Different
by shinelrond
Summary: What if it was Elrond who had been captured and not Celebrian....(thankies to Nemis for beta-ing chap. 11)
1. Default Chapter

The Twins rode ahead, they had not been truly paying attention, but then, neither was anyone else. Their sister rode a little ways before them, talking with one of the escorts. Elrond and Celebrian were at the back, taking in the fresh air, the change from indoors to out.  
  
Elrond was glad his wife had swayed him to coming, he had needed this.  
  
No one saw the shadow in the distance, heard the pounding of feet, the sound of weapons slicing through the air.  
  
An escort saw them first and announced it ere he was hit in the chest with a crudely made arrow. The twins turned swiftly and came in front of their sister, armor gleaming, weapons flashing as coldly as their eyes. Elrond did much the same, attempting to protect his wife as he drew his blade. But the horde was closer to them and they were over taken first.  
  
Upon his steed, his blade was swiftly lunged at all who drew near.  
  
"Ride Celebrian!" His cry was not willingly heeded by his wife but she was lead from her husband by an escort even as Elrond was thrown from his horse.  
  
The cry of the twins was deafening as they rode to their father's aid but their numbers were too great and the twins suffered many wounds ere they were forced to retreat, going after the escort that bore the ladies of Imladris.  
  
The family was as one as they shouted to rally the remaining of the escort and go back, but the elves would not be moved, their Lord had instructed them to return with the family should something such as this happen. The family was driven back without rest to Imladris.  
  
Elrond was beaten once he had fallen to the ground without mercy, though he did not ask it, would not ask it. His last sight ere he lost consciousness was of a small group of elves fleeing across the plains and not being pursued. He thanked the Lady, and succumbed to the numbing pain.  
  
"We must go back, gather as many as possible." Elrohir cried out as his wounds were tended to.  
  
"You ar-."  
  
"Without my father! Send out the message, summon as many as will come, we can still catch them before they have chance to seriously harm him!" He was struggling as was his brother. Arwen did not seem to know what to do, her mother did though.  
  
Her entrance into the courtyard was with great noise. "Every elve of able body, get armor, get blades and bows and get saddled." There was a murmur of question. "My Lord has been captured." Her voice did not crack and did not betray the nerve racking panic that flowed through her mind. Every one sprang to their feet and was gone to follow her orders when they heard their Lord was captured.  
  
Breathing deeply to calm herself, Celebrian made her way to their room and retrieved her husbands coat of mail, though it hung loosely on her, it was enough. Next, she grabbed a delicate elvish blade, given to her by her mother in her youth.  
  
When all had been assembled, Glorfindel and Celebrian rode at the head as the twins and all others followed.  
  
Though they rode fast, the horde traveled fast as well and had covered great distance. It was dark and they now indulged themselves. Rarely was it that one was given the opportunity to torture the Lord of Rivendell.  
  
He bit down hard as the red hot blade lightly traced patterns on his abdomen, up his chest, softly down his neck. He could taste the blood in his mouth even as he felt his skin being seared. He tried so very hard not to cry out but even the Lord of Imladris has his breaking point. That point came somewhere around the time when they laid the burning blade flat against his shoulder and ran it down to his lower abdomen. It was an echoing cry, strong and yet weakened. It was heard across the plains, heard even by those who sought to save him from it.  
  
"Wonder if e' likes a little alch'ol." One grunted, allowing a thick liquid to drip on the burns, eliciting another cry of pain.  
  
This continued until they deemed it necessary to stop so that he might be kept alive but it resumed in the morning until it had to be stopped again for the same reason.  
  
Celebrian had been loathe to stop and rest for she did not. A light echo of the true tortured sound reached her ears and all night, she listened to her husband's cries.  
  
When they continued, still dark, she rode even farther ahead of Glorfindel, allowing the wind to dry her tears ere they fell from her eyes.  
  
When finally they reached the encampment, a long and bloody battle ensued, the family of Elrond taking down far more then their fair share. Celebrian came close to a tree, only one orc stood near it, the others slain or on the verge of it. With the speed her mother had taught her and the precision her father had, she dealt with the scrawny one with ease.  
  
Breathing deeply, she watched him fall and reveal the bloody form of an elf behind him.  
  
Crazy little idea I had, sorry about all the mistakes but I wrote this really fast, attempting to get out my thoughts before they went. I plead for forgiveness from all you Elrond lovers out there, but I just had to write this.  
  
Plus, I know it's technically elf, but that makes them sound all cute and impish whereas I think the v gives them a kind of….strength…I dunno….  
  
Gimme a little feed back, will ya!:) 


	2. 2.

"Elrond!" If he responded to his wife's cry, it was to low in tone to hear. Celebrian ran to his side, carelessly dropping her sword in the process.  
  
Taking the sleeve of her shirt, Celebrian wiped the blood from Elrond's face. She bent down close to his face, sighing with slight relief when she felt a whisper of breath escape his lips and brush against her cheek.  
  
"You will live." She spoke to him lightly as she gathered him as best she could in hr arms, trying for the sake of her own sanity to ignore her husbands grunts of pain. As she had nothing to wrap him in, to stop the tremors of cold that ran through his body, Celebrian held him as close as she could, her head bent close to his, her skin and clothes stained with his deep red blood.  
  
The twins came not long after and lifted their father from their mother's grasp, wanting to get him back to their home as soon as possible. The journey was long and slower due to the care taken to see that the Lord of Imladris was brought back without further damage. In those few days, Celebrian was always at her husband's side, either tending to his wounds or simply holding his hand. But it was doubted sadly by all who saw them that he even knew it was his wife who comforted him, if even he felt the comfort.  
  
Since the beatings had ceased, his mind had been free to slip into a state far from the world of pain, of happiness, he was in a world of darkness which, though it was without pain, was without companionship. His mind grew weary even as he struggled to get back to his family. The mind was winning, he was slipping.  
  
"Will he live." The three children looked downward as their mother asked the question of the elf who had tended to their father's wounds.  
  
"He has strength and I know that he does not wish to pass to Mandos, but he has been weakened and his body and mind seek to leave this world even as his spirit fights them." Celebrian took little comfort in those words as did her children. They came to kneel by their mother and placed each a hand on their father's arm, his hand still In the grasp of their mother.  
  
"Father, you are far too strong to let this take your life." Elladan's whisper was all he managed to say to his father as his voice cracked and his head fell. His mother laid a hand on her son's head, gently smoothing the hair he had completely from his father.  
  
"Ada, we are here." Arwen said to him. It was something she said to her father whenever he seemed depressed. Elrond took comfort in his family's presence under any circumstance and it seemed odd to his daughter that he did not wake and smile, they were so close and yet he seemed so far.  
  
Elrohir managed to say nothing despite his best efforts. He found himself letting tears slip from his eyes in the stead of words of encouragement and comfort to his father.  
  
Celebrian took her eyes and her hand from her husband as she leaned down and embraced all of her children. Slight whispers to them from her lips soothed their troubled minds as each child attempted to get just a little closer to their mother, to arms that would protect them from this.  
  
After a time uncounted with each other, though Celebrian did not wish to leave Elrond's side, their children brought her to get a meal with them, complaining that she had not eaten in a very long time. But she found it hard to eat with her mind constantly drifting back to his form on the bed, bandaged and bruised, burned and scared. In the end, Celebrian ate less than half of what was on her plate and her children watched her leave with worried glances to one another.  
  
When the door cracked open, Celebrian peeked through to see Elrond sleeping without stirring. She leaned against the door for a moment as she looked upon the patch of his chest bathed in moonlight from the window. Even in that pale light, the bruised flesh was easily visible as was the bandage that ran across his shoulder and abdomen.  
  
She went to him, kneeling by the side of their bed, and gently caressing the side of his face. Various nicks and small cuts marred the beautiful flesh and his deep black hair made him seem so much more pale. Leaning over slightly and placing both hands on his chest, Celebrian kissed him lightly and stayed close to his face, looking it over with worry.  
  
Shedding the light silver robes that she wore, Celebrian changed into a night gown and slipped under the covers of their bed. Moving lightly so as not to disturb Elrond's form, she laid beside him and wrapped an arm over his chest. It wasn't long before she fell asleep singing a soft song to him.  
  
She was awoken with a start when she herd her name called out, then she realized that it was Elrond sitting up fast that made her wake. He had managed to jump from their bed in his delirium but the weakness of his wounded limbs did not permit him to rise from the ground where he had fallen. There he sat now, breathing heavily and still whispering under his breath the names of his wife and children.  
  
Celebrian went quickly to him and cradled him in hr arms. Elrond looked up, his breathing evening out, to see his wife.  
  
He grasped her face and placed another arm on her shoulder. "You're alive!" He said hoarsely. Celebrian looked at him in confusion until she realized that throughout his torture and empty sleep, he had thought something terrible had happened to them, that they to had been captured and tortured as well.  
  
"As are you, as we all are." He looked so relieved as he hugged her tightly, burying his face in her silver hair and inhaling her sweet smell.  
  
"I thought I saw you retreating, but I couldn't be sure…if…if they had caught you as well. Everything was so blurry, I didn't know." Celebrian, no longer feeling the need to guard herself or her emotions, let tears slip from her eyes.  
  
"I did not wish to leave you." Elrond looked at her and spoke softly as he wiped the tears from her eyes.  
  
"I did not wish to see you harmed, the children harmed." After they had hugged for a while longer, Celebrian rose and brought Elrond to his feet. He leaned heavily on her before she set him down on the bed and helped him to get under the covers.  
  
When she was underneath them as well, Celebrian went immediately to her husband's arms and laid her head upon his chest. She looked up at him in worry when she heard his heart beat, considerably weaker than it had ever previously been. Elrond merely smiled down at her but his weakness broke through it and he looked aged, far too tired. Laying her head back down, Celebrian closed her eyes and attempted not to worry but found that she could not and sleep evaded her because of it. Two terrible thoughts entered her mind and they would not be pushed away, would not let themselves be forgotten with sleep.  
  
What's she thinking? Is Elrond really on the road to recovery? wait and see…..and, you know, if you have the mind to review in the meantime, I wouldn't be opposed….:) 


	3. 3.

"Is he getting better?"  
  
"I hear that he's walking about."  
  
"No, our Lord is still confined to sitting, still too weak to stand on his own."  
  
The talk was unceasing, everyone in Imladris was worried over Elrond. It had been a week since he was returned but poisons delayed his progress in healing. Even the most skilled healers were unsure if he was truly on the road to recovery.  
  
"You should eat, it has been some time since last you did."  
  
"Please stop worrying over me and my eating habits, I simply do not feel the need." Celebrian was stung by the sharp tone in his voice but she knew that Elrond was angered by the fact that he could not walk without help. Go about his duties as usual. Hold his children. But Celebrian was also well aware of his struggled breathing, his weak heart beat, his far too pale skin and unusual eating habits.  
  
Elrond, his teeth clenched, looked up from the book he was reading and sighed. He reached a hand to his wife and laid a kiss upon it.  
  
"I will eat when you eat, which I know very well isn't for another hour. By then I will have an appetite for dinner." Celebrian forced a smile so that he would worry no more over her and left her husband.  
  
Elrond watched her go regretfully, feeling frustrated that he simply couldn't walk up to her and lay a kiss upon her lips and beg for forgiveness in the same movement.  
  
Celebrian walked from her chambers and quickly placed a hand over her mouth as her face twisted and tears fell from her eyes. She would not let him know how much his moods affected her and how negatively. She continued walking down the hallway, seeking her own study to shed her tears in private.  
  
He moved as a pale ghost in darkness and rarely was it that she noticed him until he was in front of her.  
  
"Tithen min?" Celebrian looked up, gasped and hiccuped from her tears to see her father standing in the intersecting hallway. "Oh, Celebrian." She practically ran to Celeborn, his arms wide open as they had always been, and threw her arms about his shoulder's.  
  
"Ada." She whispered. Celeborn took her tightly I his arms as she cried into his shoulder the stress of the last days.  
  
Celeborn led Celebrian to her study in a short time and sat with her there, holding her hand as she told him of what had happened. Celeborn was troubled as he wiped away the many tears that flowed from his daughter's eyes.  
  
"I did not know you and mother were coming, I-."  
  
"Arwen. She was worried and rather unsure of what to do. Such things happening to her father have shocked her." He was speaking to her as a fellow parent.  
  
"I have not had the time to truly speak with her, though I should have made it." Celebrian straightened in her chair and let her hand slip from her father's as she made sure her eyes were free of tears. Celeborn brought her to her feet and suggested that they retrieve her husband for dinner. Shocked at how much time had passed, she quickly agreed.  
  
To the surprise and relief of all gathered, Elrond ate his normal serving plus another that night and made his way to the hall of fire with assistance from only his wife.  
  
Celebrian's chair was as close to Elrond's as possible, her hand clasped tightly in his as they listened to the tales and songs of all gathered in the hall. Galariel and Celeborn sat close as well, their grandchildren participating in the singing and story telling occasionally. Every one gathered in the hall was in a considerably lighter mood than they had been in before, it was the first time their Lord had been able join them.  
  
Elrond didn't let his limp show to anyone, or he tried not to. Celebrian was far to accustomed to everything as it was in her husband and, picking up the slightly heavier step of his left foot, supported him more.  
  
"I'm fine, I could walk back by myself." Celebrian looked up at him.  
  
"Really? Than why do you not?" Elrond had seen this coming from his wife and prepared the perfect response.  
  
"I enjoy being so close to you constantly." She nuzzled his cheek as they reached their room.  
  
For the next few weeks, Elrond's strength seemed to return an he took up the duties of the last homely house again. Celebrian aided him whenever she could but another thought, filled with fear, entered her mind. Galadriel and Celeborn had not yet left and many more visitors were received, among them, the Grey Wanderer.  
  
" You are looking much better, but I think you should rest more."  
  
" Like your daughter, you worry far too much over me." Galadriel turned from the window to look at her son, her normally stern face replaced with one of great stress.  
  
"Though she is wise herself and knows her husband well, Celebrian does not see in you what I do. The stress of what is coming could claim you…in both body…and soul." Elrond looked away from her face to the window. Lavas was approaching and the leaves of Imladris' fair trees were turning a burnt- gold in hue.  
  
"It matters not what becomes of my body or soul if I see my family slaughtered under his hand." His voice went from hard to almost a whisper at the memory of his lost King. "If I…can even assist in the battles I am sure will come, then let them take what they will, just not my family." Galadriel did not sigh for she knew how he felt. The shadow was affecting her as well.  
  
Tithen min-Little one  
  
Ada-Daddy  
  
Lavas-Late summer to early autumn season in sindarin.  
  
Well, there it is. A little unsure as to how I'm gonna continue so it could be a long while or, it could be tomorrow, depends on when a really juicy inspiration comes upon me.  
  
Sending this chapter out to Nemis, I feel your pain, I hate torturing these characters…though…I've already strayed from the canon…what's to stop me from going a bit further…nah, too set in my ways, I'm biting my nails down to nubs waiting for the next chap!:)  
  
Review plz!(I know, I'm sad, lol) 


	4. 4.

When finally The Lord and Lady of the Golden Wood returned home, all the elves of Imladris thought that their Lord was healing extremely well. Even the healers thought his condition was growing better but Elrond's family was still worried. Celebrian mainly because everything about her husband still fluctuating. Some nights he would sleep peacefully, others, wake in a cold sweat and be out of breath. He ate little some days and far too much other's. He could be as the elf she once knew, but rarely was that now. Elrond had a bitter taste of life and it reflected heavily in his day to day moods.  
  
He tried not to let those moods escape him though, he tried not to depress his wife along with himself. But it was hard and getting harder. A shadow had fallen over him, his soul was bathed in darkness by it even though his body did not show it…yet.  
  
He felt a need to go to a place far from Imladris, a yearning which he had never felt before. Something called him far from his home and family and part of him wanted to follow that feeling no matter where it called him or how far. But the part of him that lived for nothing more than those he loved had always been stronger than anything else and that calling was forced with ease from his mind.  
  
"You look beautiful today, meleth-nín, though you look so everyday." Elrond said to his wife as he placed a kiss on her hand. She looked up at him from the paper work in front of her.  
  
"And you look healthily handsome." Elrond did not let the smile slip from his lips, though he felt like it should. Celebrian had worried far too much over him despite his progress in healing. She insisted on taking over more of his duties, giving him more time to rest, and fretted over every slight symptom that made itself present in the Lord of Imladris. That was why he never let his sudden fevers in the after noon show to her. Celebrian would know if he did.  
  
"What are you working on, does it require help?" Celebrian shook her head.  
  
"I'm just finishing. Are you hungry, you should have a little for lunch."  
  
"Yes, I shall, as long as you share that little with me." He took her by the hand and led her from her study, soon they were seated in the garden, indulging in a moment all to themselves. This happened often after the attack, both Celebrian and Elrond made an effort to spend much more time with each other, one fearing that the other would slip from her and one knowing that eventually he would.  
  
"You have a little wine on your cheek."  
  
"I do not."  
  
"No, you do. Here, let me get it." Elrond leaned over and kissed Celebrian's cheek and continued until their lips met and their tongue's collided. Celebrian pulled back first, her eyes closed and hand resting on her husband's face.  
  
"You are as a fox, meleth-nín." When she received no answer, Celebrian opened her eyes to see a sheen of sweat covering Elrond's forehead, his eyes shut tightly against the fever that engulfed him. When he looked up, Celebrian saw all in him since he had been tortured. The pain, anger and frustration. The calling and the conclusion that he himself had come to long before that moment. Fear taking hold of her because of Elrond's state and because of what she had saw, Celebrian leaned his forehead against her shoulder and brought a goblet of water to his mouth, his hot skin burning her cheek.  
  
It was not long before Elrond recovered from the fever and the couple sat against a tree, still in each other's arms.  
  
"Why did you not tell me." She whispered to him, a blank look upon her face as her forehead rested against Elrond's jaw.  
  
"The fevers come and go and I barely even notice them."  
  
"I mean about everything." Elrond was silent as he laid a hand on her head and stroked the silver tresses. "Mother was worried over something, I should have known that it was over you."  
  
"Celebrian…I though you woul-." She pushed herself from his grasp and stood looking down at him, far to many emotions colliding within her to make sense of them all, angered yet crying.  
  
"I may be that Lady of the Golden Wood's daughter, but I do not share her abilities. Though I wish it, I am not capable of looking at your soul with the power of my mind," Elrond made as though to speak but did not get the chance, " and I thought I would not have to…believing that my husband would bare it to me without need of my intrusion." Celebrian left, not wishing for her study or any place in Imladris really.  
  
She wanted to be far from her husband and so much closer all at the same time. Deciding that the latter would allow her more time and space to think, Celebrian went into the forest surrounding the Last Homely House and perched herself, knees to her chest and arms about them, on a branch overlooking a tiny stream that trickled by.  
  
So many things that she wanted to voice. So many things that she wanted to shout. So many things that she wanted to cry.  
  
After he had recovered from the initial shock of Celebrian's words, a panic settled over Elrond and he dashed off to find her. He tried every room he thought she could be in and spoke to every person that she might be speaking with. He elves that tended the stables if she had gone off to Lothlorien and they said no. It was after he been to the stables that a far to obvious yet easily over looked spot came to his mind.  
  
The forests of Lorien paled the beauty of those surrounding Imladris but the height of their trees was closer to those in Lorien than those of any other forest and Elrond recalled a time when Celebrian, longing for her home would wander about the forests of Imladris and sit in the branches of the trees looking to the direction of her home. He was not surprised to see her sitting in a tree that they had sat in often when they were younger.  
  
Celebrian did not look at him as he climbed to a branch just below the one she sat upon and leaned against the trunk. He did not speak, waiting for her words to him as he looked down to the little stream.  
  
"Are you dying?" Her question was forward and her voice cracked when she spoke the words.  
  
"I…am not certain but…I believe a part of me is and that…one part…will claim the rest of me." Celebrian did not wipe away the tears that slipped down her face but asked another question.  
  
"Is there nothing that could save you, heal you." He reached a hand up to her which was taken without hesitation and held tightly.  
  
"The calling, which I doubt not you saw, I believe it calls me to the blessed realm. I think it would heal me."  
  
"When will you go?" Elrond tightened his grip on her hand.  
  
"I will not." Celebrian looked down at him in confusion and disbelief. "Before you claim that I have lost my wits, I must remind you that the last time I thought you and the children were suffering, it nearly drove me to Mandos without struggle. What I know is coming…I will not leave you to face alone."  
  
"Do not be so foolish over us, we would meet again but if you stay…I know you would pass from us forever."  
  
"I would not go knowing that there was a possibility that you might not follow." Celebrian knew that she could not force him to go and that he intended to stay until he saw them safe.  
  
"There is no guarantee that you will survive this long enough to see the downfall of the shadow."  
  
"I know." Celebrian slipped from the branch, into his arms and cried as though he had already passed.  
  
"Please." She whispered to him.  
  
"I cannot go."  
  
meleth-nín- what's it mean?* gets an evil glint in her eye, go read Nemis' story and find out;)  
  
*sniffles, stubborn Elrond, sighs, so sad. God, I gotta write less depressing stuff.  
  
N E ways, review please.  
  
Oh ya, In response to Ryven's question, yes Elrond did have Vilya…just no big rivers kicking around… 


	5. 5.

'He slips from me, it matters not how hard I try. I beg him to leave every night, knowing that it would break me and in knowing that he will never go, I am broken.'  
  
Celebrian finished the last scratch of quill in her journal, closed it and looked up and acroos the room to her husband. Elrond sat, leaning on his elbow over a chess board as Elladan moved his queen across it. A slow smile spread across Elrond's face.  
  
"Excellent move…under any other circumstance." He moved his rook a few places in front of the white King as Elladan looked down at the board in amazement.  
  
"Impossible, I played that game flawlessly." Elrond lifted his hand as Elladan took it.  
  
"Almost flawlessly, good game." Elladan rearranged his pieces on the board correctly and left Elrond as his father turned his head slightly to look at Celebrian.  
  
"If one did not know better of you, one would think you cheated." Elrond rose and walked towards where she sat.  
  
"The day he wins is the day I rejoice." Celebrian looked at him and thought something was odd. Only when he bent down and laid a hungry kiss on her neck did she understand what it was and she laughed lightly.  
  
"Mm, your laughter rivals the music of Maglor." Celebrian wrapped her arms about his shoulder's.  
  
"And your flattery remains ruler over all others." He brought her to stand as they embraced and she laid a gentle kiss upon his cheek. "No, any strenuous activity, ANY, and it could make your fevers worse."  
  
"But I have strength in me this day." Elrond looked at her with a cocked brow as he stroked her cheek with his thumb. "There used to be days when it was you who wished for my attention in such ways to the point where you would beg."  
  
"Never once did I beg, it was not necessary, you could never resist."  
  
"Nothing has changed…" Celebrian cupped his face in her hands.  
  
"I wish nothing had or I would take you to our bed without hesitation." Elrond looked at her, truly gazed into her eyes and a look of sadness came over him.  
  
"I worry."  
  
"Over what?"  
  
"That you would go to the bed of another, one who was stronger and healthier." Celebrian smiled at him and drew him close.  
  
"Your worries are unneeded, I would seek out no other. You are the one I love and have loved since the first time we met. No one could ever take your place." She kissed him and soon, she realized that it had become much more passionate than she had intended and, in the end, Elrond won over her fears, which did prove to be unneeded.  
  
He sighed contentedly in the arms of his lover and continued to kiss her collar bone.  
  
"What do you think of my state now? Am I as weak as you thought?" Celebrian smiled and held his head to her collar.  
  
"You may have over come the poisons and abuses in your body for the moment but you have not swayed my opinion, I still worry over you." She wrapped her other arm around his shoulders and leaned her head against his. Elrond moved his attention to her face and laid a kiss on her forehead.  
  
"I still have the strength I had when we first met and until it shows sign of leaving, I will act as I always have."  
  
Celebrian seemed not to hear his words and only when he said they should join the children for dinner did she move.  
  
She ate and said little that night as she watched Elrond talk with the children happily. He spoke to Elladan of strategy, Elrohir of fighting techniques and Arwen of riding. When the children excused themselves and kissed their mother on the cheek, Celebrian looked to Elrond as he came to take her hand and lead her to their chambers.  
  
"What troubles you meleth nîn?" He placed his hand on hr shoulder and Celebrian took it in hers.  
  
"If I ask you this time, will you say yes?" Elrond kneeled down and leaned his head against Celebrian's shoulder.  
  
"No."  
  
"Then you already know what troubles me."  
  
That night, Celebrian was in her husbands arms, her head against his chest. Though he was sleeping, she was not, could not. The soft thrum of his heart was in her ear, telling her reassuringly that he was still there and that he had not passed just yet. It only made her despair even more as she knew that his strong beat would begin to falter soon and eventually, stop all together. It made her feel worse knowing that the reason this would happen was, partially, her. The steady beat carried her deep into the night until it brought sleep and dreams of things to horrible to imagine ever becoming a reality.  
  
K, start with one very adorable couple, throw in enough angst to make Hulk Hogan break down and cry and add a pinch of romance, you get…I'm not sure what this is:) but, anyway, just throwing little cutey, nothing big happens chap for the sake of my own sanity as I'm counting on this getting very depressing.  
  
Review plz, I actually am hooked up to these things intravenously, lol:) 


	6. 6.

The pain was sudden and caught him off guard as his vision became washed white by it. He found he did not have the ability to cry for help as he slid to one knee, hands clutching at the cool wall and floor even as the fever burned within him. His breathing turned to gasps and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat.  
  
Elladan saw him first from the end of the hallway, his father leaning against the wall, his body heaving as his lungs pleaded for air.  
  
"Father!" He ran to his side and lifted him to his feet, confused and afraid at his father's look of pain so much that he cried for his mother as he began to lead his father to his chambers.  
  
Elrond's chest barely quivered as he breathed and it was hard to tell that he still lived save that most of his veins, now a sickly deep blue color, that were close to the skin were clearly visible with every beat of his heart.  
  
"What's happened to him? You said he was free of the poisons, you said he was healed!" Elrohir was furious with the healers and voiced it without hesitation. Elladan was in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall as he observed his father. Arwen was at her father's side, clutching his hand as she had done when she was younger and afraid of something. But the touch of her father was not as comforting as it had once been, it was now drained of all strength and protection save Vilya which had also dimmed slightly. Celebrian was much the same as Elladan, an expressionless face, a straight frame, squared shoulders. She was trying to look as her husband would under times of great stress and pressure. Of pain and uncertainty. But she knew that she would soon fail.  
  
"I am sorry, my Lord, These things can rarely be predicted, their poisons are ruthless-."  
  
"Excuses, excuses you give me while my father is at his death bed." Arwen began to cry at those words and Elrohir himself became silent at what he had said. Elladan did not let the emotion stirred by his brother's words show in any way as he stepped to him and turned him from the healer.  
  
"Arwen, come." His sister slowly let their father's hand slip from hers and took her brother's hand. The healer and Celebrian watched them go. The elf turned to the Lady of Imladris, face downcast as he avoided her eyes.  
  
"My Lady, we have tried a-." Celebrian smiled down at him as warmly as she could manage.  
  
"I am well aware that you did all that you could and that you will continue to do so." The elf bowed his head before he quickly left.  
  
Celebrian turned and laid her eyes upon the weakened form of her husband much as she had the first night he had returned. The same scars visible in the moonlight then seemed to have returned slightly, their presence always detectable by her. Gliding lightly to his side, Celebrian took his hand tightly in hers while she placed the other next to his head and leaned down close to his ear.  
  
"Do not go now, er-mân nîn, not yet." She sat next to the bed, his hand still firmly held in hers as her other came to rest on his bare chest, the fever causing a light sheen of sweat to cover it and heating her hand unbearably as it did so. "You promised me many years together if you stayed, you promised you would not let it claim you ere we had the chance of one last night of love making, that it would not claim you ere you sang one last song to our daughter, played one last game of chess with our son, fought one last play battle with the other." The tears came in silence after she stopped and her breath caught in her chest for just a moment. "So do not go now when you have so much more to do and to accomplish. You said you would fight the shadow by our sides…even if it was that which claimed your life." Her breath held this time as she saw his eyes flutter and slowly open.  
  
"Even in my current state, you will not allow me dishonor."  
  
"Elrond." She whispered to him as her hand went from his chest to his face. With surprising strength, his caught it and laid a kiss upon the palm ere he held it to his chest.  
  
"Meleth- nîn, It was just a fever."  
  
"They said it could have claimed you." A slow smile spread across his lips.  
  
"No, unless I am mistaken, our sons anger threw those words." He looked down at her for a long while, her face lined with fallen tears, her eyes darkened and seemingly without hope, her hair a little duller than normal. Sitting up, he pulled her to his arms. "I have made promises that I shall keep." Celebrian buried her face in his chest as her palms rested on either side. Elrond's arms, considerably bulkier with muscle from the many days he had spent in the fields of Imladris attempting to regain his strength, encircled her heavily. "I wish to keep one now, even if I do so once more." Celebrian let him rise reluctantly from her and dress as she thought how foolish she had been. She watched him slip into a tunic and button the first three buttons from the bottom up, he had regained his strength much as he always did when fever came upon him.  
  
Elrond extended his hand to her. "Come, I wish to sing to Undómiel tithen nîn." Celebrian took his hand and was quickly wrapped in his arms even as they sought out the children. "Im meleth nîe." He whispered to her as they walked into the hall and spotted their children.  
  
  
  
Er-mân nîn-My spirit one(literally that backwards, sindarin is an odd language:)  
  
Undómiel tithen nîn-My little even star:)  
  
Im meleth nîe-I love you (Note that I have yet to find YOU in sindarin so nîe is a combination of two words very close to that) 


	7. 7.

His foot falls were feather light and would not have alerted the ears of any elf. No twig cracked underneath his boots and no leaves were rustled by his robe. His hands constantly left his side to be placed fleetingly on the trunk of a tree as he passed. It calmed his nerves, this walk, as he had received troubling news that morning in the form of a message sent from Mithrandir. Troubling news he knew he needed to share with his wife who's participation in the councils of the wise as of late had been ever welcome by him.  
  
When finally he did stumble upon Celebrian, he found her form slightly distorted by the fall of water from one of the many falls situated in Imladris. A smile crept across his lips as he watched her merely standing beneath the warm water, attempting to shed all the memories and all the knowledge of events both current and past. He moved slightly closer as he admired the way her hair seemed more gold than silver when wet, her skin a deeper color than it normally was. He would have continued his watch had he not felt the first stirrings of a fever.  
  
Elrond went down to the pool of water at the base of the fall, a few feet from his wife's feet and began to run the cool water over his forehead, attempting to drive the fever and the flush of his cheeks from his body before his wife felt it. But it was to late, at such close proximity, she felt it almost as soon as it began to heavily burn him.  
  
Celebrian stepped back from the falling water, cleared the droplets from her eyes and turned to see her husband at the shore of the small, shallow lake, his hand cupping a small amount of water to his forehead. She crossed the pool quickly and kneeled by his side, placing a wet hand on his back and taking his hand from his forehead. Elrond looked up and smiled reassuringly at her.  
  
"I did not wish to trouble you while you bathed, in manner of speaking." Celebrian looked at him still with worry.  
  
"Why were you out here? You should not stray far from our home when you know that a fever could take you at any moment." She helped him to his feet but did not let go of him, her arms still wrapped about him.  
  
"I needed to speak with you, it was rather urgent." Celebrian cared little of the urgency of any matter over her husbands well being. It had been many years since he was captured but the fevers that took him came more often than before and some, more fiercely than others.  
  
Elrond wrapped her in a large towel and proceeded to dry his wife off quickly before she became cold.  
  
"What matter was urgent enough to make you act so foolishly." Elrond ran the corner of the towel over her hair a few times, playfully ruffling it. Celebrian took the towel and faced him as she dried herself off.  
  
"Mithrandir sent news to me today and I'm certain that he has to Galadriel as well." Elrond, noticing his wife's slight shivering, removed his robe and wrapped it about her.  
  
They spoke as they walked back hand in hand but Celebrian didn't pay attention to anything other than her husband's touch until he said one word.  
  
"Beg pardon?" She said as she turned and looked up at him, his face serious and his brow dark.  
  
"Sauron is the one who inhabits Dol Guldur." Celebrian was unsure of what to make of the knowledge at the moment.  
  
"So close…" Elrond made a soft murmuring sound. "News must surly have gone to Lord Thranduil but all the Elves of the Green Wood could do little against him…"Elrond waited for his wife to verbalize all of her thoughts before he spoke again, realizing that she had far to much on her mind lately.  
  
"Along with Mithrandir's message came one also from Curunír. He does not think it wise that we advance on Sauron at this time." Celebrian stared up at him in confusion.  
  
"Why not? It seems foolish to wait and let his power grow." Elrond's look was still hard as he looked out over the woods, thinning as they grew closer to the gardens. The gray, clouded sky was as a reminder of what brooded over the mountains. Elrond looked down with concern at his wife when he felt her grip on his hand tighten. "Elrond, Dol Guldur…it's so close to Lorien…" She whispered to him. Elrond stopped and pulled her into his arms, resting her head upon his shoulder. He knew very well that his wife was strong enough to not need this. She could have walked back free even of his hand but he didn't care. Celebrian had shouldered far too much for too long, something she had not been used to when he was taken.  
  
"If you worry about your mother and father, you needn't. If there are elves about better capable of standing their ground more so than those of the Golden Wood, I have yet to find them, do not worry." Celebrian nestled in closer to his chest as Elrond laid a kiss upon her head. Eventually he trailed kisses down to her neck and worked the flesh of the area with his tongue. Celebrian hugged his head to her and closed her eyes.  
  
Rarely was it that anything seemed slow now, especially during moments between them. But at this time, it seemed as if every breath he took lasted an age and she cherished it.  
  
Sorry about the somewhat….slogishness(not a word, I know) of this chap, it's 12:10 in the morning on a Sunday, I'm just a little tired…..night night…….*yawns, review plz:) 


	8. 8.

"We cannot strike, not yet."  
  
"Why not? Why delay our attack on him? He can only grow in his strength!" Elrond was furious at Curunír and he did not bother to hide the rise in his voice and temper.  
  
"We can be sure of nothing-." The white began.  
  
It had been many years since the first news of the Dark Lord's inhabitance of a corner of the Greenwood was heard by the wise. Curunír had avoided holding council with the wise for quite some time, though they knew not why. Eventually, Galadriel and Celebrian, tired of waiting both for his action and news of another capture had written to him, a cold fury in their quills and Curunír had responded, saying that he would meet with them.  
  
"We can be certain that he is massing his creatures," interjected King Thranduil, "many of my warriors have seen them going to Dol Guldur."  
  
"It is folly to wait for his orcs to gather such strength." Galadriel said.  
  
Curunír looked severely stressed by the growing impatience of those gathered but it did not show as he remained adamant in his decision. "We will not move yet. Give it time, let us attempt to see what his plans are."  
  
"Not with his presence so close to the Greenwood, Lorien and Imladris. There has been attacks already even when he did not inhabit Dol Guldur, how many more will fall before we move?" Celebrian was at her husbands side, her anger carefully kept low save for the fire in her eyes.  
  
"Celebrian is right, we will no more risk the life of one archer than the life of ten thousand by waiting any longer-." Curunír grew angry towards Elrond now.  
  
"We must wait! What will happen when those we send to battle him fall under his hand? Need I remind you of Gil-galad's foolishness in being ill- prepared?" This nearly set every elf seated in the council off. He had not known the King and had no idea of his acts of heroism.  
  
Elrond's eyes blazed and his breathing became uneven. "Never speak of the High King with such ignorance lest-lest…" Elrond, in his anger, had worked himself up so much that a fever found itself welcome in the heat of his rage. Everyone gathered looked at him with worry as his breathing became heavier. Thranduil, Galadriel and Celebrian all quickly rose and went to his aid when he slumped to the ground. Celebrian cast a weary glance over her shoulder at Curunír as she helped Thranduil and her mother remove him to their quarters. The white merely stood there, looking calm as ever, his eyes placid.  
  
"It should have been Mithrandir." Elrond said, though weak, with a surprising amount of strength and an undertone of malice.  
  
"I know, he is wise but do not forget that it was he who would not allow himself to take Curunír's place." Elrond made a soft sound in reply. He was seated upright in his bed, his cheeks flushed and his mind overflowing in thought. Galadriel was seated off to the side, her mind also preoccupied.  
  
At the insistence of Mithrandir, Lothlorien, Imladris and the Greenwood held off any attack on Dol Guldur for a long while. But the armories of the three elven territories were always fully stocked and their warriors, always sharp in their training. The Greenwood took the brunt of the Dark Lord's pressure and it's borders had to be constantly monitored. But a time came when the thought of keeping the armories in good shape was pushed from the Lords and Ladies of the fair elven realms mind's for a second.  
  
"Celebrian? Might I speak with you a moment?" Elrond roused his wife from her discussion with her sons.  
  
"Of course love." Elrond's face was grave and It seemed as though a few more lines of age appeared upon his face. He stood in the hallway opposite the door from which Celebrian came, holding a letter and examining it with great care. Celebrian grew worried as she saw a spark of severe pain and sadness flicker in her husband's eyes.  
  
"What is it Elrond?" Elrond looked up a moment, though not at her, then returned to gazing at the letter. Celebrian noticed the seal of the King of the Greenwood and her wonder grew.  
  
"My Lord Elrond," he began to read aloud, his voice hushed, "I write this now pleading for your assistance upon my knees. Sauron moved swiftly to claim more of our fair wood. We held him off tirelessly and eventually succeeded in driving him back to the shadow of our wood that he has created but…." Elrond stopped and clenched his jaw a moment ere he continued. "But he entered the northern part of our woods before we were able to stop him. The Lady Caliberyn was slain in the battle." Celebrian brought a hand to her mouth as Elrond once more clenched his jaw. "I once more beg for your help, many have been slain and should Sauron plan another attack, I doubt we could put forth great enough resistance to stay him. King Thranduil of Mirkwood." Elrond finished barely above a whisper.  
  
Celebrian, hardened slightly by the past years, did not cry but she was shaken and it was visible.  
  
  
  
Caliberyn-There was never much of a history for the elves of Mirkwood and so their was never any mention of who ruled by Thranduil's side but seeing as he had a son, he must have had a wife. We know nothing about her so I was forced to give her a name. This(most likely very weakly) translates to lady of Greenwood, which is actually Brennil Uin Calen Eryn, most likely that backward as Sindarin is a n odd language. So you can see I had to play with the words to get a name out of it. (I agonized over her name for close to a half hour so please don't be too critical of it.)  
  
This ties in (slightly) with my other fic out there, Folly of the Father, a Lagolas fic(can you believe it?) So, if you have the mind( and alought of patience for a first time Legolas writer) go check it out please(No slash, lots of angst * the crowd gasps, and a little explanation of Legolas and the missing pieces of his life). 


	9. 9.

When Curunír heard the news of what had happen, he gave in and offered his assistance in the attack on Dol Guldur though Celebrian, Galadriel and Elrond suspected that it was merely not to appear indifferent towards King Thranduil and the elves of the Greenwood.  
  
"You're staying here."  
  
"The Mandos I am." Celebrian turned from packing a pair of saddle bags and looked to her husband.  
  
"Elrond, making love is one thing, battle is quite another. There's the possibility that you could be shot or poisoned again. You know that your body could not handle another poisoning." Elrond exhaled, clenched his jaw and cast his eyes to the ground.  
  
"I swore I would stay with you until the shadow had passed-."  
  
"And if you wish to hold true to that promise then you must stay here." She crossed to Elrond and, lifting his head in her hands, looked into his eyes reassuringly. "What guarantees that this one battle will mark the passing of the shadow? You know he has other strongholds, other fortresses, other places in which to brood his armies." Elrond looked to her eyes as well as he slid his hands over hers and clasped them tightly.  
  
"What guarantees that you will return?" Celebrian closed her eyes and leaned her head against Elrond's.  
  
"As in all battles, with all warriors, nothing guarantees anything. Nothing guaranteed that you would return from the Last Alliance but did my Lord Gil- galad stop you from going simply on the basis that you Might not return?"  
  
"That was different," Elrond whispered, "Ereinion went with me to battle…it is foolish to ask me to stay when you go." Celebrian wrapped her arms around his shoulder's and kissed his temple just as Glorfindel entered.  
  
"My Lady, it is time to go." Elrond now wrapped his arms about her waist and clutched her to his chest, silently pleading. Celebrian, deliberately not meeting his eyes, lightly took his arms from her waist, slung her saddle bags over her shoulder and went to follow Glorfindel through the door.  
  
"Wait!" Elrond called to her. Celebrian turned hesitantly, thinking it a plea for either her to stay or allow him to come. Instead, she found Elrond holding his coat of mail towards her. "I do not wish you to go without the finest." Celebrian stepped forward and took the mail from him.  
  
"I does no matter what I take with me, I go without the finest." She replied as she squeezed his hand and turned from him, following Glorfindel once more.  
  
Elrond listened to their hushed conversation as they retreated down the hallway.  
  
"You will not allow him to go then?" Glorfindel's comment sparked a small feeling of anger in Elrond. As if he needed the permission and acceptance of his wife to go.  
  
"I do not trust myself to protect him, nor anyone else for that matter." Elrond's blood boiled at that. His own wife saying that he needed to be cared for, looked after,…protected. His breathing caused his chest to heave as he stormed from the chambers. He didn't care if anyone saw him, his family was not there at the moment and they were all he cared to shield his anger from.  
  
The Elves of Imladris stayed clear of the gardens for the rest of that day as their Lord's cursing could be heard from far and wide. He had been practicing his sword play for most of the day and shed his shirt in the process.  
  
"I don't need her protection." He yelled angrily. "I do not need her…her…assistance." His sword, delicate yet with the strength of ages cut through the air with such speed that sound of it hurt his own ears. "I need no ones assistance. I can stand on my own!" The blade, bearing a thin elvish script carved from the hilt the point, spun about as Elrond whipped it back, brought it around his shoulder and whipped it forward, continuing on with the smooth movements. He didn't notice the scars of the burnings and whippings start to re-appear. "I am the rightful heir to the throne of the Noldor!" With that last cry, Elrond's pulsing muscles forced his skin too far and the scars that had just became visible split open once more. Collapsing on the ground, Elrond realized just how much the capture had changed him. The time he had to brood on it had not helped. He had become angry and bitter and this was only a shred of just what tore him inside.  
  
"Ereinion…" He whispered to the earth.  
  
"You may leave them here, of course." Thranduil said. "They will be housed with the utmost care." Celebrian walked along side him, down one of the many corridors of his home.  
  
"I thank you for your kindness." Thranduil stopped and turned to her.  
  
"No, my Lady, I thank you for yours. You did not have to come." Celebrian cast her eyes away from his.  
  
"I wish we had come sooner…maybe some of the tragedies that have befallen the Greenwood would not have."  
  
"Mirkwood 'tis now, without her light…" He paused a moment before he shook the thoughts from his mind and continued on. "Our archers shall lead you there and stay by your side through it, as shall I." Celebrian smiled weakly at him as they entered into the fresh air and the stables.  
  
She looked about to see her own sons unsaddling a horse with Mirkwood's prince, Glorfindel now discussing the upcoming battle with King Thranduil but she found herself feeling rather alone and she wished at that moment, for nothing more than the feel of her lovers hand in hers. Celebrian stiffened after closing her eyes and taking a reassuring breath. She opened her eyes and looked out over them.  
  
"Alright, it's time to be off. We want to catch them while the light still favors a longer stay." Everyone turned and began to march from the stables to join the Mirkwood elves after she had finished.  
  
The host from Imladris had journeyed to Lothlorien before they came to Mirkwood and there ranks had more than doubled yet there was still doubt in Celebrian's mind as to whether or not they could succeed in driving Sauron from Dol Guldur. Curunír had joined them at Lothlorien as well but Celebrian felt, if anything, less confident in his presence.  
  
"We approach on horse then?" Celebrian looked to her side to see him, his staff in hand, his eyes still placid as ever.  
  
"Yes, meandering through these woods on horse is pointless and time consuming." He nodded and left her side which Celebrian was all to grateful for.  
  
Celebrian had an easier time going through the woods than most of the other elves of Imladris as she was raised in Lorien. Glorfindel was always at her side, his sword drawn and ready even as they first walked into shadow. Elladan and Elrohir went a little ways in front of their mother, the swords their father had given them drawn as well. King Thranduil and his son were a few feet off to her side, bows readied with arrows.  
  
Dol Guldur held an almost palpable sense of Sauron, it was as though you could taste and smell him in the air, feel him infecting the ground, poisoning the roots for indeed he had. Celebrian now understood the King's great distress more so. It was like seeing the Golden Wood or Imladris fall to ruin and being unable to stop it. The shadowed woods held many queer creatures, ones noticeable only by feeling their presence, others, by their piercing eyes. Still others, by their fowl smell and horrid battle cries.  
  
"Orcs!" Came a shout from the left side of the ranks. The forest seemed to move as hundreds of dark green shapes hurled themselves through the forest. Arrows whizzed over Celebrian's head as she stood her ground and waited for the first orc to step out from the shadows. As one did, she whipped her sword straight into his shoulder, nearly slicing him in two. Kicking him to the ground and off the blade of her sword, Celebrian lunge at the next one that sprang forth, burying her blade in his leg and slicing it up to his abdomen with surprising strength. The blood flowed down the blade and to the hilt, soaking her leather gloves and it simply didn't stop, one after another, the orcs flowed as freely as their blood did on the arrows and blades of the elves.  
  
Eventually, the lines of orcs thinned and they made way to the expansive yet low stone building. Just as Celebrian thought that they would make it soon, a new wave of orcs poured through the large, beaten iron gates and, following them, came five large, many eyed creatures, hissing and spitting gobs of black goo at the line of elves. Celebrian found her self at the front of the lines along with Thranduil. Together they gave a rallying call and charged forward once more. The many elves that still lived raised the call to a deafening roar as they followed their Lady and King. Though the elves took down hundreds more orcs with ease, the spider-like creatures were making sizable dents in their ranks. Celebrian, slicing off the arm of a rather large orc, saw Curunír step forward, his confidence and calm demeanor beginning to agitate her now, and hold out his staff to one of the large creatures who made to charge for him. She didn't, however, get to see exactly how he dealt with it for Celebrian saw then, just as she lifted her blade from the orc's carcass, a large, dark shadow, fleeing the building.  
  
The shadow was deeper than the rest of the forest, if that was at all possible, and it carried with it that same palpable, infectious evil. Celebrian, picking up a bow from a lost elf and an arrow stuck in the ground a few feet from her, ran after the shadow, though it moved fast, she gained on it. Her breath came faster as, still running, she readied the arrow on the bow, pulled back and let it sail to it's fleeing target. Those fast breaths caught in her throat though, as the shadow turned and caught the arrow in a fast movement. The dark hands gauntlet crushed the arrow. Two hollow eyes looked up from their fist to her and Celebrian could swear that a smile was upon the face of the shadow.  
  
Celebrian knew that the other elves were all preoccupied, no one else saw the shadow fleeing, they were all still intent on storming the building. He could advance on her, take her life in his hands and she was without the means to stop it.  
  
Just as he began to walk towards her, the black hand reaching out, a flash of white lit the area and Celebrian was blinded for a moment. When she took her hand from shielding her eyes, all that was visible was Curunír, his stance betraying his readiness to fight, and the shadow, far away and still running.  
  
Curunír turned to her and offered his hand. Celebrian smiled lightly but arose herself and dusted the dirt and crumbling leaves from her legs. She was glad to hear an elvish uproar of success.  
  
  
  
"What happened?" Celebrian hollered to the healer who stood just outside her door. Her sons followed, still fully in their armor.  
  
"He must have been…training and the fever overtook him." Celebrian stopped in the doorway when she saw her husbands form, sickly pale and bandaged, just as it was the first time he had returned.  
  
"Elrond." She whispered as she went to the side of the bed where her daughter was seated.  
  
His fever was much more than that. He seemed as though he was truly on fire, burning from within. His skin was almost yellow in hue and his veins were beginning to turn to a horrible shade of blue.  
  
She laid a hand upon his chest to feel his week heart beat. When she took her hand from his chest and rested it on his cheek, he did not respond as he always did before, with a light flutter of his lashes. He was still. He was a living image of one deceased.  
  
Ready your hankies for the next chap folks!(and, you know, review:) 


	10. 10

As they always did, the fever passed from the Lord of Imladris' body but this particular one left him weakened and the color didn't return to his face.  
  
"I wish I could join you in the gardens, it's such a beautiful day out." Celebrian shook her head against his chest. She was in his arms, smiling, happy that her beloved had survived another attack. But in the back of her mind, the part that was as her husband's was, she windered just how many more he would…could survive.  
  
"It is, but that doesn't matter, I am just as happy wherever, so long as you are there." Elrond held her closely but even he could feel how weak his limbs had become.  
  
"I am sorry, I should not have disobeyed the order to abstain from strenuous activity." Celebrian kissed his cheek as she rose from their bed.  
  
"Matters not."  
  
When Celebrian left their room and started down the hallway, she noticed her son looking out over the land from a window.  
  
"Elladan?" He didn't move nor did he acknowledge her with a word. Celebrian felt something similar to anger emanating from him, surprisingly enough, towards her. She called his name once more ere he placed his hands on the window sill and answered.  
  
"What is truly happening to father?"  
  
"He fell to-."  
  
"A fever, I am angered to think that my own mother lies so readily to me whilst everyone else does as well." Celebrian was caught off by the sharpness of his tone.  
  
"What do you speak of?" She asked of him, laying a hand upon his shoulder but Elladan shrugged it off as he spun about to face her.  
  
"You know what I speak of! How long have you known? Were just going to allow us to go through the darkness as father slipped from us?" Celebrian shut her eyes and lowered her head ere she looked back up and continued.  
  
"Elladan, this was not meant to harm you, we were trying to protect you-."  
  
"I do not think you were attempting to put forth a falsehood but you had no right to deny us this knowledge." His cold tone cut through her. Rarely was it that anyone spoke to her in such a manner but Elladan had never even raised his voice to her.  
  
"I didn't want you to worry-."  
  
"No, of course not, my father is dying, why should I worry?" He ended with a choked voice as he fled her presence. Celebrian stood in that hall a long while ere she went to her own study. There she stayed until the moon drew over the sun, pondering, wondering, contemplating and considering. More and more becoming lost.  
  
"Meleth nîn?" Elrond said quietly as he poked his head in the door of her study.  
  
"I am here Elrond." He slid in and shut the door silently before crossing to her.  
  
"What's wrong?" He asked as he noticed the slight irritation in her pensive posture. She looked up, quickly replacing the worried, strained look with a smile, something she had picked up from Mithrandir.  
  
"Nothing…you should not be out of bed." Elrond looked down at himself sheepishly.  
  
"Probably not…but…Does my Lady wish to join me for supper?" Celebrian took the hand he offered her and they walked from her study without words much as they shared their supper. Celebrian still could not shake her sons words or the feeling they stirred. The uncertainty followed her even as she fell asleep in Elrond's arms.  
  
She awoke the next morn to see that Elrond had left her side earlier. She rose and dressed quickly, wanting to find him as quickly as possible.  
  
"You wish to journey somewhere?" Glorfindel watched his Lord, still pale and slightly weak looking, look over maps of Middle-Earth despite the fact that he knew every map off by heart.  
  
"Yes, I need to leave Imladris for a while, journey to see Círdan once more perhaps. From there, possibly go to Forlindon and walk upon it's shore again…maybe go to Harlindon and do much the same." Glorfindel was not aloof about the traveling as his Lord seemed to be.  
  
"It seems to me that you take theses travels as a mortal man about to die does so with his home." Elrond stopped looking over the maps for a moment and turned slowly to Glorfindel.  
  
"I…Do not wish to leave without once more visiting the land where…Ereinion walked…look upon his grave once more." Glorfindel drew his eyes from Elrond's and to the ground.  
  
"Are you saying what I think you are?" Elrond's face fell to one of sadness.  
  
"I wanted to hold on to this world for as long as I could. See my children marry, see my friends marry…," Glorfindel let his head sink lower, not seeing anything but pain in his words. "I wished to do so much, to stay and keep those I love from the grips of the Shadow…But I'm falling, brûn meldir, It's becoming harder to wake in the morning, harder to keep my head up in the day, harder to see the colors in Echuir." Glorfindel looked up at him with a deep sadness in his eyes.  
  
  
  
Brûn meldir-Old friend  
  
Echuir-Spring 


	11. 11

"Why do you wish us to come, father?" Arwen's question held no knowledge of the real reason and Elrond was not thankful, knowing that he would have to tell her, indeed, have to tell all his children.

"I…wish my family with me, is it such an odd request?"

Elladan sat upon a window sill, the half moon bathing his face eerily as he looked out with a harsh glare. Elrohir was as blind as Arwen and stared unknowingly at his father. Celebrian had her hand in Elrond's as she gazed out the window, as Elladan did, blankly.

"I would like us to set out tomorrow if you can all get ready in such a short time…" Elrond said with a forced smile as Elrohir and Arwen gave him true smiles before they went from his study to prepare. Elrond looked to his other son who still stared out of the window, watching a deer with little interest. "Do you intend not to join us, Elladan?" Elrond said with a chuckle but his face quickly lost the humor when Elladan didn't move. 

The younger elf watched as rain slowly spattered on the window, blurring his vision of the escaping deer. 

"Elladan, what is wrong?" Normally, Elrond would have arisen and gone to his son's side but he didn't trust his legs at the moment, it seemed like all the strength he had depended on through the ages was slowly draining away.

"Visit your long ago home before you die, is that the plan?" Elrond was stunned not only by the question but by the monotone voice used to deliver it. "And when Arwen and Elrohir see your body in the faded gardens it will be our responsibility to tell them that their own father lied to them." Elladan turned his cold eyes to his father.

Sighing heavily, Elrond said. "I did not wish this…"

"Do not speak to me such lies!" His son hollered in reply. "If you do not wish this then sail! Go to the havens and sail!" 

Elrond looked up to see tears sparkling like jagged crystal in his son's eyes. Elladan's face was no longer cold and his voice had broken. "You chose not to take ship to the west because you wanted to stay with us, see us through the coming days of darkness…you know fully that this will not happen now, death is taking you like a mortal man…so sail now and we may yet meet again…"

Elrond slowly shook his head. It is too late, I am a victim of my own stupidity…I believed that I could protect my family no matter what tore me within…"

Celebrian clutched his hand tightly. Elladan stared at his father in disbelief for a moment before storming out of the room.

Elrond cast his eyes to the ground and did not watch their son leave them but Celebrian did and returned her gaze to her husband when he had. Elrond felt the strong but gentle arms of his wife encircle him, attempting to bring him up from the sorrow in which he dwelled more often then not.

"He does not understand the burden of family or ones duty to ones people like you do-."

"But he soon will," Elrond said, cutting her off, "He is eldest, he will bear the burdens of Imladris' ruling, of the crown of the Noldor should he so choose to claim it and the guilt of letting down his people should he choose not too…"

Celebrian curled her arms tightly about her husband, "I will not let it break our son, I will not let anything break our family…if I can help it…." She whispered, laying a kiss upon Elrond's temple before helping him up and walking with him to prepare the arrangements for their journey.

~*~

The people of Imladris bid farewell to their Lord and Lady along with their children and the Lords Glorfindel and Erestor. They were all whom were to travel and not even an escort would accompany them. No one in the fair valley knew that there was anything wrong save that their Lord was still susceptible to the occasional weakness from the poisons lingering within his body. This trip was simply for his benefit, so that he might gaze upon the sea and walk upon the land where his friend of old, the High King had walked. That was all that was thought by the people of Imladris.

Elrond and Celebrian however, had chosen this time to tell Elrohir and Arwen of their father's ailment and the eventuality of his death. This made the mood of the trip much more solemn then it was intended to be though Glorfindel attempted to remedy this on several occasions through horsing around quite literally. But, for the most part, the first days trip was silent and peaceful but a tension emanated from Elladan and was met equally with tension from Celebrian who would cast an easing glance at her son ever so often.

While they prepared the nights meal, Elrond and Celebrian spoke the truth to their children while Elladan went off with Glorfindel and Erestor, supposedly in search of fire wood.

"I wished to stay as long as I could, to see you all through the coming darkness…" Elrond said, almost pleadingly as his children looked at him and he was certain he could see their hearts breaking as surely as his was. Elrohir wrapped his arms around his sister as tears began to pour down her cheeks.

"But ada," she sobbed, "Why can you not stay?" The way she looked at her father made him go to her side immediately and hugg her head to his chest.

"I cannot foresee the work of the Valar…for I wish that I could stay and be with you always…" He said quietly, stroking his daughters hair.

A great deal of the night was spent in tears and embraces but Elrond eventually found his way into Celebrian's arms and spent the night in them, gazing at the stars.

"How long has it been?" Celebrian asked, playing with Elrond's braids absentmindedly while her other arm was wrapped protectively around her husband's chest.

"Ages…I have not had the chance to travel this way in so long…so much to do, so many things hindering." He replied, clasping the hand that lay upon his breast.

"I'm certain you will be the better for it." Celebrian said, but Elrond did not respond immediately; he seemed lost in some other thoughts, in another time and another place.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

"It's alright little one, I won't hurt you…or your brother."

"You are just as Maglor was, you wish us for bargaining."

"I wish no such thing."

The feel of gentle hands, rough with battle and long life, were so comforting that the child could not help but give into them and the ache of tiredness and hunger. Even abandoning his brother to the elf whom he vaguely recognized but could not place, not in the muddled confusion of the past weeks.

He could feel himself being lifted along with his brother, up from the warm waters by the stranger who held them protectively to his chest. The elder's voice reverberated in the small half-elven child's ear through the elder's chest, kindly and elvish, it was soothing, like his father's had been.

"Eärendil's children," he said, "send word that they are free of Maglor." 

"Into who's care shall I say they have been delivered, my Lord?" What seems a distant voice asked.

"The High Kings care…" It was the last of the words the half-elven child had heard from the elder before he slept.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

"Elrond?" Celebrian's worried tone broke the memory cycle and Elrond looked up to meet her eyes.

"The air of the dead…be good for me…" He chuckled at the absurdity of it but pondered it a moment. "His life is still there…or at least the feel of it was…when I left that place long ago."

Celebrian held him closer, fearing that depression would take him but it didn't and her husband slept with peace, still seemingly lost in another world.

The journey recommenced the next day with everyone in a sad and ponderous mood save Elrond who rode on with a smile upon his face, close to Celebrian. But the weight of death was still clearly visible on his face and no one suspected for a moment that he was recovering.

They passed over various hills and small streams, some which Arwen had never seen before, but her brothers, Glorfindel and Erestor knew quite well. Celebrian was reminiscing about the time after their marriage when Elrond and she had ridden across these plains endlessly for a month, free of the responsibilities that called to them, completely alone with one another. 

These thoughts ran through her head as she watched her husband but something had changed. There was no longer a smile upon his face but a placid look of pensiveness. He rode with a stiffer posture as though he were riding to battle and his horses pace had increased ever so slightly.

'Elrond…' She whispered in her mind.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

"Elrond!" The holler had come as a warning from the King, to no one else but him. The boy's horse had spooked and reared, tumbling him to the ground. Again the King's voice sounded in alarm but he was much nearer now, his horse close to the boy.

He leapt from the beasts back and to the boys side in one fluid motion as the boy attempted to move.

"Lay still little one." He whispered as his hands probed the boys back, making certain he was well. "You're alought like your father, he was always able to take a fall from a horse and receive little damage."

"Curse! It hurts Ereinion…" The boy hissed as the King helped him up from the ground.

"Can you ride?" The King asked, certain that the boy couldn't without loosing his balance. The boy made a small noise of discomfort and Gil-galad picked him up with a soft embrace and placed him on his horse before he tied the bridle of Elrond's horse to his own and climbed up behind him.

The boy relaxed against the broad chest of his elder and allowed an arm thick with muscle to encircle him as the other flicked the reins ever so lightly and started the horse off again.

"We'll reach Lindon soon…"

"Elros will be happy to see you." Elrond said, groaning a little at the pain.

"He'll be even happier to see you-."

"You say foolish things, any child is happier to see their father than their brother…" Elrond had not realized what he was saying but quickly became silent at the end of his sentence.

"He will be glad to see his family." The King answered, being neutral about the entire thing, relieving pressure from the boy.

"That he will Adar…"

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

Elrond's breath almost stopped as the memory was lost to the depths of his mind again, but the words of the King remained along with the sound of his voice and Elrond felt his throat tightening. He could feel the King's presence around him, the sound of his horse as it led his. Elrond closed his eyes for a moment and regained his composure as his family continued riding without suspecting the memories the area evoked in him.

As the small party crossed the river Lhûn, Ered Luin became clearly visible before them and they knew their journey was almost at it's close. The air began to carry the scent of the sea as they moved closer to the looming mountains and the sky was clouding, bringing the promise of rain upon the coast. So the party found themselves riding in a slight haze as they continued, though no one minded, Elrohir was even waiting for the rain to start fully.

When the Ered Luin was reached, the ascent was slow as the path meandered and was slightly muddy but, again, no one seemed to mind or notice. Erestor and Glorfindel were talking of the many times they had ridden on this path with the children as Celebrian sped up a bit to reach Elrond's horse.

"Meleth nin?" She said softly, reaching out and laying her hand upon her lovers arm.

Elrond looked at her and smiled. "I both love and hate this place…so many things I said and so many things left unsaid…" Elrond turned his face back to the path ahead and Celebrian watched him look intently about, seemingly for a marker. She heard him make a small, pleasing sound, "There…"

Off to the side of the wide path was a stone into which was carved a symbol that one couldn't make out from horse back. Celebrian and the others watched as Elrond climbed down from his steed and knelt before the stone. Wiping away some moss that had grown upon it, it was visible to Elrond that the symbol was a crest, within which were many stars.

Glorfindel and Erestor sat upon their horses with solmen looks on their faces. Both bowed their heads and closed their eyes for a moment. Celebrian and Elladan looked upon the stone with expressions alike to Glorfindel's and Erestor's as Elrohir and Arwen looked upon it with slight confusion but said nothing.

"I must go for a short while-."

"We will wait adar." Elladan said shortly.

Without looking back, Elrond followed an over grown path for a somewhat long way until he reached a crest that allowed you to see the whole of Harlindon and Forlindon. He gazed out for a moment and struggled to hold back the tears that threatened to arise.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

"It's beautiful Ereinion."

"I thought you'd like it up here little one." The King said, staring out in respect opposite to the boy's wonder. "You will have rule of all of this someday…"

The boy seemed to grow angry at this. "Do not say things such as that! You will guide me forever, you will guide the whole of the Noldor forever!" 

The King sat down and continued looking out. "I cannot promise you that…"

"Promise me nothing for you needn't, I would give my life ere I let yours be taken."

Gil-galad watched the boy, now becoming a man, stare at him intently and believed every word he said even though he shook his head. "My star will shine over you forever, dead or no, never forget this. Even if one of is taken before the other, I will always love you, ion nin."

The boy swallowed his tears and looked out again. "And I you adar…"

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

Elrond turned from the view to the mound of stones, covered in rich green mosses now, which had a blade dug in at the head of it. The blade had been there for ages but showed no sign of it. The metal still shone like a new day's sun and the engravings upon it were clear to read. A sad smile crossed the Lord of Imladris' lips.

"Hello old friend." He said quietly, for that was what he had thought of Gil-galad in the end. After so many years spent together as adults, calling him father seemed strange and childish but he had lost no respect and love for him. Within a short time, he had become inseparable from Gil-galad, their bond had been one of the deepest Elrond had ever shared with anyone and to this day, rivaled his with Celebrian.

Elrond kneeled before the mound of stones, stones which he had thought to harsh for his King, his friend, his father but stones which he had placed because digging was impossible and he would settle for no other spot. He placed his had upon one of the larger stones at the foot of the mound and the memory of laying it there came upon him quickly.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

"Ereinion!" The cry was lost even to his own ears as he pounded to where the form was, dropping his sword recklessly but caring little.

Dropping down next to Gil-galad, Elrond lifted his torso in his arms but knew at once that life had gone from the body. Blood drained from the King's forehead without stopping and Elrond looked on in horror as Aeglos slipped from Gil-galad's hand where, clutched tightly, it had taken down many.

"Ereinion…" A whispered plea to someone who was too far gone to hear. But even as he cradled the limp body, a cry went up and the dark figure that had loomed not so distant fell, leaving a shaking human with a broken sword. But Elrond cared little, the human's strike had come far too late and only after his father was killed. He doubted the man who's forefather had been as a son to the elf he held even noticed that he was gone and he was right, the man stared at the ring in his hand without blinking.

Elrond would have cursed him but no longer felt the need to do anything save get his King from the battle field. He did exactly that. The men that he should have been commanding saw him mount a horse with the King's body in front of him and ride.

Elrond rode until his mind was dazed and his body ached more than it had ever before. He rode until he came to the spot where he had pledged to die before his father and there he stopped. Sweating and craving water like a dog overworked in the heat of summer, he laid his friend to rest and made his grave to befit a warrior and a King. He drove his sword deep into the ground at the head of the mound and laid himself next to the mound.

Breathing heavily and certainly nearing death, the man felt everything ache until his world was blinded by it. Then he lost consciousness and awoke what seemed ages later in his own bed in Imladris with Glorfindel scolding him on his complete stupidity but leaving him alone when he saw no response from his Lord. Elrond noticed nothing in the splendor of his home save a spear, still dirty with mud and thick, green blood at the foot of his bed. He stared at it for more than a day and a night without rest before he got up and cleaned it.

Even after that, Elrond spoke with no one and ate very little for two weeks until someone came to visit him. Celebrian had said nothing to him at first either but in the end Elrond had broken down when she had wrapped comforting arms around him.

"Hush." Was the only thing she had said and Elrond could keep tears from his face no longer. It was the last time he had cried.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`

Now, however, he found that it could be that way no longer as tears slipped through his tightly shut eyes.

"I'm sorry Ereinion…I can no longer watch over your people anymore…" 

His grip on the stone in front of him threatened to crack it and Elrond let go, rising from the grave to look out over the landscape again. The breeze that hit him dried his tears quickly and he left the outlook for the last time, placing his stern demeanor on and greeting his family.

Celebrian approached him with a worried look but Elrond shook off her hands when she placed them on his arm.

"I'm fine meleth nin. I…needed to say good bye…one last time…" He said quietly, mounting as he did. The party watched Elrond go ahead of them a bit before following. No one knew what to say or do or how to ask if he really was alright. So they followed and he led, down from the place where he had nearly lost his life thousands of years ago, wishing for the presence of his oldest friend.

~*~*~*~

Ion Nin-My son

Adar-Father

Ered Luin-Blue Mountains

This was supposed to have other things happen but it just got way too long…so beware the next chapter, bring hankies galore…and weapons for killing me of course…

Yeah, El was supposed to drag Ring boy's sorry butt up mount doom but, hey, it's AU and in this case, Gil was more important than Ring boy.

~*~*~*~  
Will you be there  
Just give me time  
To face my life

Will you be there when I open my eyes

-Memory Bliss  
~*~*~*~


	12. 12

The trek down from Ered Luin was quick and soon, the party stood looking over the vast fields of Forlindon. Elladan was looking intently to the south of where they stood, straining his eyes in the gloom of an approaching storm and dusk. After a few minutes he pointed into the distance at a small black outline.

"There, Forlond…"

It was good that he had spotted the city for a fog rolled in not much later and cut off their view almost completely. So, with horses tied saddle to saddle and Elladan at the lead, the group set out across the hazy field, praying that they would outrun the rain promised.

Celebrían was hoping also to outrun her husband's exhaustion as she could see him beginning to slump in his saddle.

Forlond welcomed the visitors from Imladris with open arms, good food and dry beds for which the entire party was very thankful. Glorfindel and Erestor took the twins along with Arwen to partake of the famous Forlond cuisine while the Lord and lady settled into their quarters for the night, claiming that they were not hungry.

Elrond watched Celebrían walk alongside him the entire way to their room, finding that the dim light which came through the windows mad her hair give off a light of it's own. He smiled when he thought about how much stronger she seemed from when he had first met her. In the boundaries of Lorien, of Caras Galadhon, she had seemed shy and timid. Like a human lady in waiting, so much different from her parents, from the strength of the Lady Galadriel and the Lord Celeborn.

A stifled sound akin to a giggle escaped Elrond as they reached their room and Celebrían looked to her husband with curiosity. He had been thinking of an incident that occurred not long after he had first journeyed to Lorien, not long after he had fallen in love with the most stunning creature in middle earth.

"What?" She asked curiously, seeing Elrond take a seat upon their bed, place his head in his hand and outright laugh.

After a while, he stopped laughing enough to answer, "The Lothlorien kidnapping," and he burst out laughing again. Celebrían came to sit down next to him before she too joined in his laughing, leaning her head against his shoulder.

That which they were laughing about was something which had caused much panic throughout the great forest of Lothlorien. The daughter of the Lord and Lady had apparently gone missing without a trace. In truth, Elrond had come to her room in secret during the night and asked for her accompaniment on a ride. He had said nothing about a destination or a time when they might return, just asked for her hand and whisked her out of her room, out of Caras Galadhon, out of the forest she called home.

Celebrían held onto Elrond as they galloped along the stretch of the misty mountains for what seemed ages to her. When finally he halted his steed, Elrond dismounted and helped Celebrían down. It was there, under the shadow of the mountain range with a setting sun behind them, that they shared their first kiss. Of course, Celeborn had nearly killed him when he returned her home but Elrond had been to happy to care.

Celebrían laughed for a while longer as gradually, Elrond slipped his arms about her and drew her body closer to his. All laughs escaping her ceased when her husband pressed his lips to hers and held them. She was tempted to just let him continue, to pursue this kiss as far as to make love to him...but caring for someone allows reason to hold you down tightly.

Pulling away from his grasps, Celebrían looked Elrond in the eyes. "We can't."

Elrond smiled devilishly and moved to kiss her. "I do not see why not-."

"You've overworked yourself as it is...I will do nothing to worsen your condition." She replied, pushing him back. Elrond looked at her indignantly.

"If your suggesting that I'm to weak to make love to you then I must assure you that my body has not weakened to that degree yet...and plead that you kill me before it does."

Celebrían smiled as her husband did and leaned her head close to his. "Tomorrow morning, before Anar has even shown itself..."

The couple smiled before sharing one last kiss and preparing for bed.

~*~

"'Tis a sad fate to hear ones own heart begin to slow. Sadder is it to hear ones lover's heart begin to beat its last beats....

I will take him soon and crush a part of her in doing so...but it cannot be avoided, he made his choice and I will not share in his guilt."

~*~

His voice, strong and certain, seemed unchanged even though she thought it must. But he wasn't. He was a perfect picture from close to three thousand years ago, walking with his head held high and his laugh, his laugh! The perfect picture of a King content with life.

"You know little one, it will all end, everything we've worked for, if someone does not take his place...as he took theirs." He said knowingly, looking at her keenly from his seat atop a stone. She looked out behind him to see Imladris only it wasn't the Imladris she called home. It was ruined and the stream which ran directly down through it flowed no more.

More than that, from where they were, a vast expanse of land stretched out to the misty mountains and beyond. The land was scarred with patches of charred grassland and beyond that, where the forest of Lorien was normally visible on the horizon, a bare skeleton of a once proud forest stood.

Celebrían could only stare for a moment before turning her attention back to the King seated before her who looked at her as though he was trying to discern something.

"Ereinion..."

He shook his head. "Even you must have felt something wrong about this all...." When she only looked at him, he smiled and looked to the horizon where the dead forest stood. "They're going to die...when they storm the forest...hundreds of beasts, hundreds of elves. Your parents...your mother...they'll hold her down and make him watch...before they slit their throats."

Celebrían's mouth went dry. He said it so matter-of-factly...what would happen to her home, her family. But when he turned back to her, his face was stone cold and dead serious as he arose and grabbed her by the arms.

"There's a chance left yet..."

She looked at him with hope. "To save him?"

For the first time in their odd little exchange, Gil-galad put on a face she recalled with great fondness. A smile that was more with his eyes than anything else, one which he used when delivering bad news.

"Tithen min...there is no way to save him. The only...the only reason I am here...is to bring news to you of what will come, I was sent."

She looked at the ground between them for a second before looking back at his face. "Sent by who?"

The odd, otherworldly smile came back to his face. "By the one who will take him."

In an instant, the entire world was engulfed with fire as she awoke, covered in sweat and shaking. 

Celebrían kicked off the covers quickly, feeling restricted by the damp coverings. As she allowed her breathing to even out, she looked at the form next to her which stirred the covers ever so gently as his chest rose and fell beneath the covers.

Looking out the window, Celebrían saw the darkness begin to lighten and turned to her husband. Elrond stirred ever so slightly when his wife laid her lips upon his shoulder and when she didn't remove them, he turned to look at her with bleary eyes.

Ignoring whatever pain was in her heart from the recently gained knowledge of his fate, Celebrían kissed him fully as she slowly moved atop him. Elrond smiled mid-kiss as he rolled over and wrapped his arms around her.

She felt his tongue sliding down from her neck to her chest as his hands massaged her flesh but she barely responded to it in her mind even though her body ached. Her mind was focused on something, something she wouldn't have thought of unless the dream hadn't shocked her so.

Body pulsing with desire, her mind paid close attention to what her ears picked up. Apart from the steadily increasing rate of Elrond's breathing along with her own, the river, the breathing of those in the rooms as far as ten doors down, apart from all those things...there were two 'thrums' which she listened to intently. One, strong and beating hard, was her own. The other, low and weak...was Elrond's. But it wasn't the beats themselves that she was interested in. it was the rate. 

Dipping her head into Elrond's shoulder as they joined one another in body, Celebrían let a tear slip down her face despite the ecstasy of the moment.

The beats of the heart so close to her own...were slowing ever so slightly.

Elrond, feeling particularly invigorated by the mornings events, walked down the pale green marble halls, attempting to adjust his braids while whistling a tune he remembered from ages ago.

But his feet and his throat seemed to stop working when he turned a corner and saw a figure standing by a window a few feet away, looking out at the mists that floated as a blanket over the land. His cloak was a grey-green and it covered almost all of his rather tall body save for his head but the outline of armor was visible beneath it. His staff, or spear rather, bore his weight as he leaned upon it but Elrond suspected that he didn't need to, never had he been in the presence of something that gave off an air of such strength. 

All his thoughts ceased when the figure turned and looked at him through the slits of his vaguely elven helmet. No eyes were visible, just the sight of distinctly dark brown skin where the dim light was permitted to touch it.

Elrond thought he would fall to his knees when the figure, now obviously male, sighed heavily and returned his gaze to the grounds...let alone when it spoke.

"I never thought I would have to take one like this..."

"Elrond?"

Spinning around and clutching the wall for balance, he nearly fell over when Celebrían turned the corner and bumped into him. She immediately wrapped her arms around him when she noticed he was shaking.

"What's wrong, meleth nin?" she spoke quietly as she brushed aside his hair from his forehead and felt the sweat lingering there.

Elrond looked at her as though she had gone insane and turned to look behind him. There was no figure, no air of strength, just the hall and the window and the drifting fog.

He breathed deeply and tried to convince himself that it was hunger, causing him to see things which just weren't there....it almost worked.

~*~

Anar-The sun

Tithin min-Little one

Meleth nin-My love

~*~

Ok, I think it's safe to say that the muse has returned in full force:D

Inspirational thanks goes to the Teaparty for the song 'Angels', Tonic for the song 'you wanted more' and Jimmy Eat World for the song 'sweetness'...these three combined helped to churn this little chappie out^-^

  



	13. 13

"Stop running...there is no point, firstborn."

The voice's whisper was in his ear and yet, when he turned, there was never anyone there. 

Stranger still was the fact that he wasn't running from anything. He'd accepted what was coming fully and, as much as it pained him, he was anticipating death.

Sighing as he looked out the window of his room, Elrond thought of the many time he'd played in the mists with Gil-galad, chasing him and in turn, being chased. It saddened him to think that he would leave the place where so much of his life had been made extraordinary.

"You made the decision, you're living on borrowed time..." The voice chilled the elf who had stared hords of orcs in the eyes and laughed. And the chill did not leave, forcing him to turn and see why.

Again, the cloaked figure was there, leaning upon his spear and staring directly at Elrond. 

"She's your heart, your soul, your breath and thought. She's what's keeping you alive, so strong is her will...her love."

He wanted to say something more...but all that came was this, "Brí..."

The cloaked figure nodded slowly and turned from him to face the door. Elrond came close to blacking out and toppling over but was caught quickly and with much grace. 

Celebrían held Elrond up but brought him to their bed and held him there.

"Did you not see him, Celebrían, he was right there, you would have seen him if-."

She silenced him with a finger as she stroked his face with the other hand. Her husband looked confused and afraid all at once, something she had never seen in him...and it frightened her more than she would ever let him know.

~*~

Finding that her husband's present condition was troubling her more than she wished, Celebrían left him in Glorfindel's company while she took in the air atop the mighty buildings of Forlond. 

Resting her forearms on the stone wall, she watched another storm roll in, covering the few short hours of sun they'd received and sending a chill wind across the land. Celebrían allowed it to rustle her silver locks as she closed her eyes and dreamed of her home and how it had once felt with her family, healthy and safe within it.

When a specific chill hit her however, her eyes snapped open and her posture became defensive immediately. The feeling was of ice striking one suddenly and then being blasted by the heat of a volcano the next minute. She knew it was from a place far away but that did not lessen her fright. Never the less, she stood upon the great stones of Forlond, laid thousands of years ago, staring in the direction of the fear with a straight back and fierce face. She looked so much like the far away lady of Lorien, calm yet strong.

When it dawned upon her what it was that made her feel uncomfortable even in a place such as Forlindon, Celebrían did not fear it more...she stood still and looked out in that direction for a long while.

~*~

Elrond came to stand behind his wife silently, waiting for her to finish what she was doing though he was uncertain what that was. But Celebrían quickly felt her husband's presence and turned to him, encircling him in a comforting embrace.

"I did not mean to frighten you hervess...I have been having trouble discerning dreams from reality as of late." He whispered against her hair.

Celebrían held his head to her. "Who is seeking you? Why do they frighten you so?"

Elrond shook his head slightly. "I have not lost my sanity completely and if I tell you, you ill think that I have."

The tone of his voice made her smile and raise her head so their lips met. Elrond's hands traveled over her body, causing her to moan into his mouth. She smiled but backed away from him.

"Let us go and spend the eve with the children...." Elrond's face turned to a small frown, "before we retire." His face lighted up once more and he happily followed his wife.

As they walked, both were silent, thinking of things they didn't wish the other to know. She thought of what she had felt atop the great stone building...of what she had perceived. Knowing that the knowledge of it would only hurt Elrond more, she kept her thoughts as her own, no matter how the burden would affect her.

Elrond's thoughts were of something much closer, much more troublesome at the moment. He didn't feel like he should have at that time of night, tired but able to keep his eyes open. He felt like he would drop to his feet right then and there and not from a fever. It was as though his body refused to continue and he knew...that it would not hold for much longer.

Recalling promises made what seemed ages ago, he continued with his wife and prayed for a few hours longer.

~*~

"They look so adorable...I think I'm going to be sick!" Elrohir laughed as his parents strode in, eliciting a smack from the elder twin who sat across from him on the other side of a chessboard and a glare from their sister. In truth, all of the children were happy of their parents love and thought it a great thing but Elrohir was always one for acting more like a child than a young adult.

Elrond smiled at all three as he took Elladan's seat. "A game against your brun adan?"

Elrohir smiled and began rearranging the pieces.

If there was one thing Elrohir took seriously, it was chess, especially when his opponent was his father. Not only that, but a match between the two usually drew all of the family around the board to watch the game play out. 

However, when Elrohir moved his queen two spaces from Elrond's queen, everyone was stunned to hear him say checkmate in a tone that said even he was amazed. He looked at the board for a few minutes, as did the rest of the family in bewilderment while a slow smile crept across Elrond's face. He leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, still smiling, while the family continued to pour over the board.

Eventually, the young twin broke out into a fit of laughter as his sister hugged him. Celebrían looked at her husband, sharing his smile as she kissed his cheek.

"Well played." She whispered to him.

"Apparently not as well as Elrohir." He replied, laying a kiss on her cheek as well.

Elrohir was still laughing as he shook his father's hand.

~*~

After a little longer time of talking about the game with his family, Elrond decided that it was time to retire, as did everyone else.

Parting with his wife, he followed his daughter down the hall which led to her own room with an arm wrapped about her shoulders.

"Is anything the matter ada?"

Elrond shook his head as he laid a kiss on her forehead.

While he waited for his daughter to change in the adjoining bathroom, Elrond looked at the things she had brought with her which sat upon her desk.

A tiny glass horse which Glorfindel had given her upon her twenty-fifth birthday, a small dagger with a white wood handle she had received from her grandparents on the same occasion, a set of horses with riders her brothers had carved for her when she was eight so that she could join in their play with their own figurines and lastly, a book of poetry which contained both his own work and his wife's, though they had chosen and written out their spouses poems.

Picking each item out gingerly, he held them and remembered the times she had received each with a great deal of happiness and grief.

When she came out, dressed in her night cloths which Elrond vaguely remembered as his own from many years ago, he tucked her in, something which he hadn't done since she was fifteen.

"Where did you get these old things?" He asked, brushing her hair away from her face.

Arwen smiled and leaned into her father's touch. "I stole them a long time ago," she said sheepishly, "from one of the times you went to defend Imladris' borders."

Elrond smiled and laid a kiss upon her head once more.

Employing the voice he hadn't used in what seemed ages, he began to sing to her, still close, a tune he had sung to her the night she was born and every night for ten years.

Pulling up the covers a bit more when he finished, Elrond looked down to see his daughter's eyes closed and her breath slow. Smiling, he stroked her face with his thumb and watched her sleep a while longer.

Before he left, he opened the book on her desk to a poem that neither he nor Celebrían had written, the only one within it that they hadn't, and left it open.

~*~

When he returned to his rooms he was certain his heart stopped for close to a full second. Something, which normally wouldn't affect him at all, was causing heat to stir in his belly. Celebrían was beneath the covers of their bed, her only covering, resting her head in her hand while she read a book. The way her hair fell over her shoulders only sought to sway her husband more.

With a slow and agonizing pace, Elrond removed his clothing so as to remain undetected by her and climbed unto the bed at the same speed. All she felt were his hands and his mouth and the reading was lost. That which followed was repeated several times to Celebrían's surprise as they normally slept after the first but Elrond continued to draw her tongue out with his and her moans out to the same extent.

When the night had grown exceptionally late, she fell asleep almost instantly as he lifted his body from hers and brought her next to him. He stroked he sweat dampened hair as she snuggled closer to his chest and wrapped an arm under his.

~*~

With irregular breath, Elrond awoke to the sight of the figure, eerily standing over his wife as she slept. He grabbed the sword, which hadn't left its place beside his bed in close to two thousand years, drew it and held it against the figure's throat in a split second.

He looked up and Elrond was amazed to see that he wasn't wearing his helmet. Long dark hair was tied loosely behind his back, allowing the moon to light half of his dark skinned face. He smiled and his hand went to the blade held beneath his chin. Blood slipped down it as his hand grasped it tightly, dripping a few specs of the thick, red liquid on Celebrían's face.

Elrond looked down at her then up, and he was gone.

Quickly dropping the blade but making certain it would make no noise; Elrond wiped the blood from his wife's forehead. After a while, he held her face in his hands and looked at the lines which had begun to crease her brow permanently. Placing his other elbow next to her shoulder so that his face was directly above her, Elrond leaned down and began to whisper a song into her ear.

__

Love is hard

Love is strong

You will never say that you were wrong

Love is surely better when it's gone

Because you wanted more

More than I could give

More than I could handle

And a life that I can't live

You wanted more   
More than I could bare   
More than I could offer   
_Love is color   
Love is love   
Love is never saying you're too proud   
Love is trusting   
Love is honest   
Love is not a hand that holds you down _  
_You wanted more   
More than I could bare   
More than I could offer _

His face, still above hers, watched her until the suns first dim light began to enter his vision and the clang of metal pierced his ears.

~*~_  
_Elladan's sword went gracefully through the air, barely making a sound as his body followed it, twisting, curving, lunging. His moves were well practiced and flawless, as they should be for one who had spent most of his life perfecting his sword technique.

Elrond smiled warmly as he stepped out from the stone archway to see the light outline of a figure through the thick fog, which covered most of Forlindon at this time in the morning. He recalled how Elladan would attempt to chase away the fog in Imladris when it came with his sword when he was much younger.

So the younger elf was a caught a little off guard when he was lunged at by something, the shine of its blade the only thing clear to his eyes. He held the blade steady to his own as he regained his bearings and looked into the one who had attacked him. 

Elrond was on the verge of laughing when his eldest son swung his blade for his father's head. They were playing as they chased each other across the fields, Elladan knew that his father was too weak to actually wage war on him. This was a sad thought to him as he dodged his father's blade and ran into the outermost part of the forest. Leaning against a tree he called out, "ada! I surrender!"

"Don't surrender yet! I haven't even gotten good chase of you!" He answered back loudly, though every word was a lie. He'd gotten to much chase and was close to collapsing but he didn't want to stop. He wanted to keep playing with his son like he had ages ago.

"I'm winded ada, let's go and get some breakfast."

Slapping a hand over his father's shoulder, Elladan walked with him, laughing about how he still used strategies even against his son in play.

~*~

The family ate together as they always had since they arrived. Glorfindel was recounting to them how Erestor had taken a rather funny trip...down the steepest part of the bank of the small river which ran through Forlond. Elladan and Elrohir were laughing heartily and patting a rather red faced Erestor on the back. Celebrían and Arwen smiled and shook their heads but Elrond was merely toying with his food. He pushed it back and forth in a steady pace as he stared at the tabletop blankly. His fork began to move more slowly across his plate until it finally stopped altogether.

Snapping his head up, Elrond excused himself from the table and went as quickly as he could without looking suspicious. Rounding a few corners, he stopped dead when the tall figure was suddenly before him. He looked at Elrond, surprisingly, with a great deal of sadness as he stepped forward and placed his hand behind Elrond's neck.

"I don't want to go...I don't want to leave them...."

"I know...and I'm sorry."

There was no pain; there were no flashes of things past, there was nothing. The elf went limp in the Vala's hand and he laid the lifeless body down.

Placing two fingers over the body's eyes, he closed them, stealing the knowledgeable gaze they held, stealing the last piece of life.

The figure looked at the body before him a little longer, taking in the features of a face aged with grief yet still young. He slipped his hand from behind Elrond's neck and rested his head on the cold stone of the floors of Forlond.

He was gone.

~*~

Celebrían closed her eyes for a moment and dipped her head before looking back up and quietly excusing herself as her husband had a few moments before.

She walked, calmly. She was thinking that she would run into him in the halls.

__

He's just around the next corner, he was preoccupied with something in Forlond's halls...he's round the next corner I know it...

To true her thoughts were. Her husband, her lover, her truest friend, her life's companion...was on the ground, eyes closed...eerily still. His name left her lips but she was beside him before it even registered in her mind that she had spoken. But he didn't say her name to comfort the tears from her face. He didn't arise and he never would.

He would never know that his wife held him for close to a half-hour after he had passed. He would never know that tears would never slip from her eyes from that point on. He would never feel the last kiss she gave him.

~*~

With no one speaking really, Arwen went to her room to while away the rest of the day looking out her window. She sat down upon the wide ledge, pulled her legs up to her chest and allowed tears to slip from her eyes. Her heart ached as she thought it never could and there was no safe haven from it. 

After a while she noticed that the window was open only because of the sound of rustling pages. Raising her head and looking to her desk, she saw her poetry book open but the page which was being rustled refused to flip.

Drying her eyes, she went to close the book but looked at the page a moment. It was the only poem not written by either of her parents but one she found that she especially liked. The last High King gave it to her father a few days after he took him in as his own.

I was watching you before Ilúvatar even though of you

I was listening to your thoughts while your mother carried you

I was holding you before you could walk

I was drying your tears ere they fell

Running side by side, I will never let you go

Beat to beat, breath to breath

When you are without, your are with me

When you are scared, I am holding you just as before

I write this so that, when we both know I cannot be there

I still am

~*~

Brun adan-old man

The song above is not mine, lyrics are by Tonic and, seeing as I'm not profiting off of it, they shouldn't really have a problem...hopefully...:D

The poem above is mine though, not very well done but it is...

~*~

I'm so sorry everyone, you knew it was coming not that it matters much. I can only say (as Nemis has been hearing for ages now) that I have a plan. Have faith....

  
  
  


__


	14. 14

It was hard to deny what he felt at that moment...it was harder to deny what his emotions were doing to him at the present.

Glorfindel was in a secluded part of Imladris, where the river was met with many large rocks before it fell down the mountain. Many thought it to dangerous to go there and, at any other time, he would have agreed with them. But now, he wasn't exactly thinking straight.

With tears slipping down his face, he watched Anar sink behind the mountains of the valley and turn the Misty Mountains into towering black spires in the night. Clenched tightly in his fist was the tiny copper ring he had given his friend when he was still a child by elven standards.

So young and yet the elder elf Lord had taken him in not as a child but a friend. He had told him of his plans, his dreams...his love for the daughter of the rulers of Lorien...and trusted him without question not to speak a word of it to anyone else. In turn, he had sought shelter with his friend during times such as the Last Alliance and found it. Nearly an age of friendship.

And now a bond was broken. More than a friend was lost. He was missing his brother.

The moon caused his tears to sparkle in the dark as surely as his hair and the elf leaned back, looked up and wished for something more than what was.

~*~

The blade was cutting deeply into his hands and he still pressed it tighter into his palms. He hadn't ground down the notches from his fight with his father...he doubted he ever would. To him, the wounds they caused to his flesh mirrored the wounds he'd done to his father's body in his last moments of life. The exhaustion he caused was what drove life from his father.

Blood dripped down to the stone as he gripped it tighter.

He felt strong, comforting arms encircle him and he instantly melted into the embrace. His mother pulled him close as she had done when he was a baby.

"I didn't mean to nana...I almost thought he was mending...that somehow they were wrong...."

Celebrían looked at her son in confusion before it dawned on her that he felt responsible.

Her arms tightened about her first born and she was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Your adar made his own decision...no one can take blame for his passing to Mandos. As much as I wanted to think that he was mending as well...I felt him slipping from us."

As she ended in a whisper, Elladan gave a small hiccup, the result of a long night spent crying in his room. Smiling lightly and smoothing her son's hair, Celebrían kissed his forehead and helped him off the bed.

He stood before her, an almost mirror image of his father with all his strength and gentleness. "Are you alright nana?"

She nodded and it seemed it was true as she poured him a glass of water. Elladan gave a rather loud hiccup as she handed it to him and smiled gratefully.

~*~

Stepping from Elladan's room, she peaked into his brother's room directly across from his only to find it empty. Her brows knitted in worry until she heard his soft voice coming from the room at the very end of the hallway, Arwen's.

The younger twin was reading to his sister whose head was resting on a pillow in his lap. Ages ago, when she was only a few years of age, he would read her to sleep just like he was now when their father was off in battle. He would calm her fears with tales of brave elves such as the High Kings. She would eventually be called to sleep but now, it was sheer exhaustion which claimed her.

But Elrohir was still reading, though rather quietly. The tale was of the brave Herald of the King who marched at his side until he was struck down. Tears slowly slipped down his face as his hand made it's way to his sister's forehead and lay there.

"Did she have trouble sleeping again tonight?"

Looking up, Elrohir smiled bleakly and wiped the tears from his face. "She's not the only one."

Much as his brother had been a few moments before, Elrohir was enveloped in his mother's arms. He rested his head in the dip of her neck and was still as he allowed the comfort to wash over him.

Celebrían took the book from her son's hand and looked at the illustration which accompanied the tale...her heart sunk. He looked as he had when he returned to Lorien after close to ten years of war. The same as when he told her he wished more time to enjoy her company.

Closing her eyes tightly, she took in a deep breath and closed the book, placing it on the bedside table. She looked down to see that Elrohir had also been taken by exhaustion and was asleep on her shoulder.

She laid her son down on the bed next to his sister and covered them both in a thick blanket to shield them from the chill of the open window.

~*~

The hallways of Imladris seemed more hollow now that she walked them alone. As she did, she fingered the thin gold band on her right hand's ring finger. The delicate elvish inscription proclaimed unending love for a beautiful silver haired woman as the thin gold band on her left hand proclaimed love for a handsome, dark haired Noldor.

Her composure slipped away within an instant of thinking the words which she had spoke to him that night, when she had promised all of her life to him.

She stepped into their room, closed the door and leaned against it before sliding down to the ground. Her eyes spilled over with tears as she curled her legs up against her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly.

The child which still dwelled in the deeps of her mind was waiting for him too. Waiting for that tall Noldor, dark and handsome, to sweep her off of her feet and bring her to their bed. To lay with her and stroke her hair and whisper to her that after all these years...he couldn't wait to see tomorrow with her.

When the hardened adult in her finally kicked the child's presence away, she arose slowly and went to his side of the bed, picking up his nightclothes from the post of their bed as she did. Still crying forcefully, she curled up on his side of the bed, inhaling the sent of the clothing he had worn only nights ago.

"Oh, El..." She whispered, her voice ragged.

The house of Elrond was eerily quiet that night, the only sound being the countless waterfalls and rivers trickling and roaring but even their noise seemed muted. There had been many visitors to Imladris when they returned home. Dwarves, Elves and Men alike. All had found common ground there, shelter given freely by a half-elven. 

Non their seemed to truly grasp that he was gone. The dwarves sank deeply into their armor, their faces shadowed and barely visible. The men, ordinary men and kings, far off kin to the Lord of Imladris, had stood solemnly and gazed over the burial mound and stone carving which accompanied it. The elves, from the rulers of the great realms to those who roamed about of their own account, were all enveloped in grief.

Galadriel had shed few tears but her pain was evident as it was in her husband who stood close to his daughter and grandchildren at all times, never too far if needed

Arador, chieftain of the Dúnedain, stood with his wife and son by his side. There were moments, when Celebrían would look to him and, in the right light, would see the face of a man she had cared for, though aged. In those moments, she would cast her eyes to the ground and battle against the part of her that wished to break down and leave the responsibilities before her. 

Eventually, the day ended and the part of her soul she had fought was given reign to grieve freely. No children to console, no rulers and visitors casting her pitied glances. She did then as she was doing now. Collapsed to the ground and whispered his name while her face was dampened continuously with tears.

But every morning, she would compose herself and conduct the meetings her husband normally would have. But she was not without help.

Erestor and Glorfindel had been with her. Anything she had needed, any matter which she required advice on in her political inexperience, they would offer what they could and go in search of what they couldn't.

It was because of this that Celebrían found little surprise in the fact that is was Glorfindel who appeared in her doorway.

"Brí?" He asked softly, afraid using the full volume of his voice would cause it to crack.

She didn't respond, merely kept her face buried Elrond's shirt. But she didn't turn away from Glorfindel when he wrapped an arm over her shoulder. 

He had found out about her nightly ritual of breaking down a few nights ago but had not sought to interrupt her by offering cold comfort. But now, he was in need of the presence which had guided and comforted him from the time when he was a child to the time when he stood at the same height as his oldest friend. 

Elrond's presence was not there but Glorfindel was quickly learning to come to Celebrían when he needed to talk or simply wished to not be alone. He was comforted when she raised her arm and hugged him back.

"It's going to be alright Glorfindel. Ilúvatar cannot keep us from him forever." She said evenly through her choked back tears.

He didn't respond, he didn't think he could.

They remained in the embrace until they found it uncomfortable and quietly said goodnight to one another. 

Celebrían sat on her bed, still holding Elrond's bedclothes. Her eyes were dry now, calmed from her moment of clarity in Glorfindel's presence. 

~*~

As the weeks passed, the family of Imladris grew into a daily routine which helped them to deal with the sense of loss. The twins were becoming more and more involved with the security of the land while their sister became something of an unofficial ambassador to the realms of Mirkwood and Lothlorien. 

Gradually, Celebrían became accustomed to her responsibilities and restored Imladris to the calming shelter her husband had made it. Her greatest test, however, came upon a rainy night in the form of a woman and child.

Celebrían was with Glorfindel, discussing the fortification of Imladris' borders when a tiny flicker of torchlight caught her eye out the window. 

She came with a small band of Dúnedain on horse, having ridden through the night; they were all of them sopping wet. Celebrían took the child from Gilraen's arms before she was helped down by Glorfindel. 

"It was barely a fortnight ago...I knew I could not stay there. I needed to get Estel away from..." 

Celebrían put on the steadying face Elrond had used to calm anyone in a state as she placed a hand on Gilraen's shoulder. "The house of Elrond has always been shelter to any who sought it, you may stay here as long as you feel you need to."

Gilraen smiled but it was clear to Celebrían that she was in desperate need of rest. It seemed almost an automatic response that the elven lady should reach for the child. Gilraen kissed the baby of two years before handing him to Celebrían. 

She walked with the babe in her arms, soothing him to sleep, reflecting on how much she missed the days when her children could be held in her arms such as this.

When she and Glorfindel had listened to the woman's words, she had considered turning her away for the safety of Imladris, if for only a split second.

'This is not the proper course' a voice had seemingly whispered to her, reassuring and warm. 'Shield them, fear not for Imladris.'

So she waved the thought away and here she was, with a human child whom she should consider kin. Young Estel squirmed and Celebrían smiled.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Nana-mommy...aww

Been a while since the last update but here it is. Again, keep faith, if I have to rouse Morgoth from the depths of his imposed hell, I will bring back your (and my;) favorite half-elf.


	15. 15

The light clings and clashes of sword play rang throughout the halls of Imladris, filling the seeming emptiness that had lasted for a few years now with the light hearted laughter of a child. Estel had grown, though not much, but was finally able to begin learning such things in play even though his mother did not approve.

The Lady of Imladris had insisted.

It was Celebrían who was teaching him to jab and parry such as he was now. His short sword was of an elvish make and was light enough for the child to wield. He was learning fast, something Celebrían had expected from a relative of her husband.

Celebrían flicked his tiny sword from his hands and left Estel staring at him empty hands. When he looked up at the elf a glint came into his eyes moments before he charged her with a rallying battle cry. Celebrían laughed as he toppled her to the ground. She fought him off as she picked herself and the child off the ground.

"Such strategies will not always work, tithen min, keep a better grip on your blade." Celebrían chided as she set him down.

"I will, can we get something to eat now lady Celebrían?" Estel asked politely.

She nodded down at him. "Your mother is already in the dining hall I believe, go find her Estel."

He smiled at her before running off. 

Looking down at herself, Celebrían stifled a laugh. She was dressed in one of her favoured dresses of a fine, white weave which left her shoulder's bare save for the straps of the dress. In her hand was the blade she had wielded for several hundred years now. She thought she looked quite ridiculous.

"You look like a force to be reckoned with, my lady."

Celebrían turned to see Erestor smiling at her.

"If the lad grows under your instruction, so shall he be one day." Erestor threw in before stepping towards her with a few papers in hand.

Celebrían smiled as she sheathed her blade. "Flattery will get you nowhere." She replied jokingly.

Erestor feigned being taken aback. "I would not dare to tease the wife of Elrond, I prefer to keep my body intact."

Her head dropped slowly as she breathed in. Erestor's mouth opened slightly as his jaw quivered in disbelief of what he'd said. 

Whenever his name was mentioned it snapped everybody back to the reality that he was gone. This reality hit Celebrían hardest and everyone went to great lengths to keep her mind from it.

"Celebrían...I-." Erestor started before Celebrían held up a hand to quiet him.

"You've reminded me that I need to...look in on a prior engagement, meldir." She said quietly before walking slowly from him.

Erestor felt a cold seeping through him. "Your mother and father have sent you letters," he said, holding up the papers in his hand, "as has Denethor of Gondor." Erestor handed her the papers in his hand and watched her leave without further word.

To say that Celebrían had claimed Elrond's study as her own would be quite untrue. She had done everything possible to make certain she kept it as close to how it had been before.... But she had found that of all the rooms in the vast Imladris, this one was purely his. Not theirs or his and their children's, simply Elrond's. 

As much as she tried to remain in her own study, she was always drawn here to read when she wanted peace and quiet or simply to be here to feel a part of him. She was here now on account of both reasons.

Opening the first letter, she saw that it was divided between two different styles of writing. The Steward of Gondor was writing formally to say that his beloved wife had given birth to a healthy baby boy, thus ensuring that Gondor would have leadership through another generation of men. His wife wrote in a much less formal tone and said that the beautiful, brown haired baby boy had been named Boromir.

Celebrían smiled, it was obvious they were excited to be parents.

When she read the letter from her parents, she felt tears stinging behind her eyes. She knew they wrote often to ensure that she was doing well as were the children. But right now, the tone of their letter served to darken her mood further.

Her father merely wanted to know if she was feeling all right and getting enough sleep, things such as that and also if she needed any assistance from the guard of Lorien that she should let him know. The underlying tone was that if she were feeling the slightest bit off, he would be there in a flash. He was her father and he'd like to see Ilúvatar try and stand between him and his tithen iell.

Her mother shielded her far less and simply stated that Lorien's army, should it be needed, was at the ready to ride to Imladris. She also said that she would like to visit Celebrían sometime soon.

Celebrían looked out the window at the storm coming from the southeast and sighed. Lorien's army was ready and she knew why. Her mother had foreseen something, something very troubling.

She watched the clouds move in as she sat in silence.

Until an overwhelming feeling that she was being watched came over her and she turned towards the door. It was the same feeling she would get when Estel peeked over her shoulder at what she was doing. But there was no one else in the room. Just this feeling of a child's presence.

It was fortunate that Glorfindel then walked into the room or Celebrían might have been lost to this feeling.

He watched as she composed herself and shook off the feeling.

"What is it Glorfindel?"

"Are you alright?" He asked, stepping closer.

Celebrían stood and nodded. "Reading over some messages. Denethor has an heir." She said, attempting to draw the conversation away from herself.

Glorfindel nodded but said nothing further. An awkward silence followed before Celebrían said something about being hungry and left. Looking around the study, Glorfindel sighed.

~*~

Celebrían had asked for a far smaller meal than what the cooks of Imladris were accustomed to preparing for her but they had made it and before the lady of Imladris it sat. Virtually untouched. Growing cold.

She was back in Elrond's study, staring out the window at the darkening blue as she waited for the rain to hit. Before her sat a letter which brought comfort and immense pain whenever she read it now.

His first letter to her. There was nothing even remotely romantic about it, about the words which he had used and the tone with which he wrote it.

__

I hope this letter finds you in better conditions than the ones from which it leaves...

But within this simple letter she had found out so much about him.

__

Let your mother know that Mordor's forces are slowly but steadily retreating...

About how he cared for everyone he met. He did not wish them to worry unnecessarily. 

__

I saw your father just yesterday, he was hopeful because of the success of the Alliance...

There was perhaps one note of caring slightly deeper than that of a friend as it concerned something they had shared the first night they met. He had told her of his countless losses of family. She had shared her fears of loosing her father in the battle. He went to every effort to convince her of his safety.

__

Send word back, I wish to know-

Celebrían read the last sentence once more before turning her gaze to the sky as a droplet of water hit the page.

He hadn't been able to finish that last sentence before his camp was attacked. Gil-galad had sent the letter to her with a note of his own the next day before heading off in search of his recently captured herald.

She sent her letter of reply the next morning. It was filled with anything he would wish to know, anything she could think of. She was pleading that it reach him and that his reply would follow shortly after. 

She considered the next letter she received from him in response to be his first love letter to her and she had sent her heart to him in every message after that.

Sighing, Celebrían folded the letter but felt a chill run up her back. Not of fear, rather of surprise. 

Again she turned to see no one in the study with her. She quivered as the sensation remained, causing her breathing to become irregular and her skin cold.

Timidly, breathlessly, she said, "...Elrond?"

Celebrían clenched her jaw angrily and breathed deeply. She missed the feeling of his presence so much she was certain she was hallucinating it. But it felt so close, so familiar...

"Im le an anann...meleth nin...." She thought after a moment, running her hands over his desk.

'_I miss you too, Brí'_

It may have been the fact that her body was playing tricks on her for the lack of food it was receiving, it may have been the fact that her grief was toying with her mind. She was not certain why, when she heard the young voice in her head, she looked about the room. 

'No, silly, you know I cannot be there.'

Celebrían turned back to face the desk, closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in a few stabilising breaths. These allowed the rational part of her mind to push away all the emotions she had let stampede her mind.

She turned back and looked about the study as she spoke firmly to herself. "You cannot be here any more than I can be hearing you tell me that you cannot be here, I miss my husband and because of reasons I cannot identify at the moment, I am conjuring up your voice to comfort me." She breathed in deeply as she finished, content that she had done away with the nonsense. She listened for a second and when no voice came, she let the breath loose.

'_If you were truly hallucinating, my love, then you would have heard the voice I left you with, not this squeak I have recently acquired.'_

Her reaction was so quick that Celebrían, in a very ungraceful motion, kicked her self back and tipped her chair as she went. She landed with a 'WHUMP' and remained on the ground, attempting to regain her bearings. The giggle she heard in her mind was irritating.

'_I take it I surprised you?'_

"Bloody rights you surprised me!" She growled, getting to her feet. She was breathing heavily as she looked about.

'_Sorry Brí, didn't mean to. It's just been so long, I didn't want you to cast this off as some hallucination due to lack of food. By the way, start eating more, your diet is not healthy at the moment.'_

Celebrían suddenly felt all the emotion she had forced away rise up again. "I have been without your presence in my mind for so long..."

__

'As have I been without yours my love, as have I.'

She missed the times when they would speak so lovingly and then slip into one another's arms. They didn't have that luxury now. She waited for him to speak again, then sat down at his chair. It was obvious she would not be able to feel him always.

A few minutes later, Glorfindel appeared at the door, much as he had before.

"Are you alright?"

Celebrían looked up and smiled at him. "Are you going to ask me that every time you come in here?"

Glorfindel stammered. "Um...I...I heard a thump...or a crash...it was loud and...came from here...where I assumed you were and...yes."

His silly words of concern made her smile deepen. "I am fine Glorfindel. Would you like to have a drink in the Hall of Fire? I feel like talking with friends this night."

Glorfindel considered her for a moment before smiling himself. "I will fetch Erestor, it will be a nice change of pace."

He didn't ask why she had a sudden, slight upturn in her mood, simply accepted it happily and did go in search of Erestor.

Sitting back, Celebrían looked about the room. "Do not wait to long to come and talk again El..." She whispered, laying a palm upon his desk before rising, snuffing out the candles and leaving the darkened study.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tithen min-little one

Meldir-male friend

Tithen iell-little girl

Im le an anann...meleth nin -I long for thee my love

Ah, chalk another one up ;) thanks for all the reviews guys!


	16. 16

Thanks go to Kirsty for this one.

She had asked her mother of it, though in a way that betrayed nothing of what had happened.

"I have heard of it and it can happen," was all she had said.

Sometimes he would whisper encouragement to her when her mind was clouded, sometimes he would talk to her of his struggle to regain a life where he was.

Some times she heard his cries in her dreams while he dealt with his life, such as it was, now.

'I miss you…' 

He asked, always, about the children, about his lords, about the spreading _darkness._

And she lied to him.

They are fine… 

_We are stronger than ever before…_

All lies.

~*~

"She is dead!"

"And you believe this is how she would wish you to continue on?!"

He stared at her with a hatred born of an anger she had only witnessed in humans, "She wanted me to have no part of it. My rule? That was what you wished, don't you recall? I should learn the sword so that I may one day be like the kings of old.

She never wanted that."

Celebrían watched him stride to the door and leave it with an echoing slam. She went to the window and watched the lone rider fly from the stables. Glorfindel came to her moments later, out of breath.

"Celebrían, Estel is-."

"Gone. I know Glorfindel."

He stood, leaning against the door with his jaw hanging down slightly.

He sat across from her with Elladan to their side. "You knew of his discontent?"

Both Celebrían and Elladan nodded.

"I tried to convince him of the necessity of his role but…he would not listen," Elladan said, his tone strong. Whatever notion of a boy that had been left in him years ago was gone. His voice was deep and muscle thick. His mind worked with all the efficiency of a ruler.

It pained Celebrían to watch his compassion slip as all these changes took place. "He was always his mother's child, I fear he will not listen to reason now that she is gone."

Glorfindel looked to her with a furrowed brow. "Can we succeed without him?"

She mirrored his expression. "No."

Elladan arose and walked towards the door of his mother's study, "Then I will _convince_ him."

"Elladan!" She called after him, "we cannot force him, that is not an option."

He turned hard eyes on her. "Then you tell me what is an option." And he left.

Glorfindel looked at her, his face softer now, "we will find a way, Celebrían"

~*~

"Mother worries about you, as does Arwen." Elrohir said quietly as they mounted their horses.

"I do what need be done, brother." His said thickly in a rough voice that grated upon delicate elvish ears.

"You've changed…" The child had never left Elrohir and, at times, it overtook him to the point where he would cower beneath his brother's stare.

Much as he did now.

"I need to be strong for them!" He said angrily, loudly, "I need to be strong for you, for everyone. 

Tell me, if I do not do these things, who will? How will we win?"

His younger brother said it quietly as they rode out into the moon light, "Obviously at the expense of our souls."

Elladan looked down and kicked into his steed sharply, sending the beast galloping. Elrohir watched the figure get smaller and finally threw into his own horse when he heard his brother's frustrated holler echo across the valley.

~*~

Celebrían walked calmly down the hall to her daughter's room where she was certain she'd find her, likely in tears. But when she came to the doorframe, she saw Arwen writing furiously in a book she knew held her poems and songs and lamentations of the struggle of life as it was now.

"He is gone, tithen min." She had never gotten past calling her that, despite how she had grown.

She spoke without looking up, with anger in her voice, "I know. He wanted me to come with him."

Celebrían was livid but hid it from her voice, from her face. She disliked the man he had become, disliked how he had nurtured an affection for her daughter as she had for him.

"I told him he was a coward, I told him his people needed him, I told him we needed him, that _I_ needed him…he would not have it." The quill cracked with the force she used on it and she looked up at her mother, her face conflicted.

"Do not betray your faith, Arwen. Fate rests not upon one man, but on those who surround him."

Arwen smiled. "You loathe him, don't you?"

Celebrían looked at the ground as a devious smile played across her lips. "Of _course_ not…I just don't want you to love him."

The shared a smile and look that spoke volumes of the bond that had developed between them. Her daughter, now a woman, could be with her on every level.

"I have letters to write."

"Mm, I imagine you do." Arwen said, smiling still.

~*~

She sat alone in her room, the storm outside causing her unimaginable grief over her son's absence. The lightning cast a pale colour over her face ever time it flashed.

_'You feel so alone, meleth nin.'_

She didn't look up, having grown accustomed to the fact that the words came from within her mind and heart. "I feel lost, Elrond. I wish you were here."

_'Don't cry,' _he said quickly_, 'I hate not being able to wipe those tears from your eyes.'_

"I fear for the children, such a burden lies on their shoulders," she said quietly.

_'I take it then…that Estel has left?'_

"He has."

_'Damn it.'_

His voice still bore all the markers of a child's and this new youth was not lost on his mind.

_'Do you wish my advice?'_

"Please."

_'Gather them, be on the alert…and wait for when it comes.'_

"Elrond…speak to me words not of this…"

_'I was just thinking of how beautiful you look in the hues of thunder, meleth.'_

She bowed her head and felt his presence fade. The storm continued unabated outside but the flashes of lightning brought sight of two figures riding to Imladris.

~*~

They came to Imladris with great speed. Countless years of planning, thrown off on the whims of a foolish mortal.

She had called upon her mother, Thranduil and Mithrandir alone.

In the gardens, with grey skies threatening overhead, they voiced fears and thoughts unimaginably valuable to Celebrían in a time when she was so uncertain.

"It is time to send word to Denethor and Théoden!" Thranduil said, hushed yet urgent.

"Denethor is not blind! He knows what evils lurk outside his borders; it is too late to call upon him now that we have kept this from him for so long." Galadriel intoned.

Mithrandir looked from the two elven rulers to Celebrían as she sat pensive.

"I do not believe it would have been wise to inform him of Ilsildur's blood," she shook her head slowly as she looked at the harsh sky, "something rots his mind."

Her mother watched her as Thranduil did. Mithrandir merely nodded. "What have you seen, Celebrían?"

She looked from the sky to his face and then to her mother and Thranduil. "There is…something afoot that we cannot know. It would be folly to make our move before all the players on the board have been clearly marked friend of foe."

Thranduil bent hid head down, looking at the floor over his clasped hands. "Saruman advised that we wait…the price for that delay was immeasurable."

Celebrían leaned forward and waited until he raised his head to meet her eyes. "It is exactly because of _that instance_ that I advise this caution."

He looked at her with confusion until the thoughts in her mind dawned on him. "Until we know who is friend or foe…"

She nodded, "to avoid such future tragedies, we trust only ourselves for the time being."

Galadriel looked at her daughter and knew what was in her mind instantly. She had thought it curious that Curunír was not present.

They bode farewell, forgoing a meal in the dining hall of Imladris to arrive and make preparations at home as quickly as possible.

"You are wise beyond even your many years, Celebrían." Mithrandir said quietly to her before he mounted to leave. "Let there never be doubt of your worthiness of the great Imladris."

She watched him ride off, following the two parties which now separated to go their separate ways.

"Plans are in place then." Elladan's voice came to her quietly from behind.

She turned to look at her eldest son. "We are prepared, come what may."

He nodded and walked with her as she went to the door. He held it open and allowed her to pass before following her into the dark, stone corridor. "He said he needed time. He is more confused then we can begin to comprehend."

Celebrían nodded and slipped her arm through her sons as they walked. "Did you…_convince_ him?" She said it with worry, said it cautiously.

He stopped them and faced her, "do you worry for me, naneth?" He sounded young again.

"Always." She said earnestly.

He searched her eyes fro a moment before he spoke again. "Do you fear me?"

She hesitated before she answered, "I'm scared of the man you may become."

He bowed his head and she pulled him into an embrace. The strain, all his anger…poured out as he held her tightly. She leaned her head against his and allowed him to hold on as long as he needed to.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Okay, I know it's been a long time, but things have been extremely complicated this lat while for me.

Anyway, with a kick in the pants from Kirtsy and a little time on my hands after finals, here it is, however crappy it may be. Sorry about the wait!


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